


i'm the satellite (and you're the sky)

by CamelotQueen



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
Genre: Angst, Biological Dad AU, Father-Son Relationship, Fluff, Gen, Guilt, Hurt Peter, PTSD, Panic Attacks, Precious Peter Parker, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, protective May, starts off at civil war and goes from there, tony didn't know he had a son, tony has 99 problems and he just got a 100th one
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-06
Updated: 2018-04-12
Packaged: 2019-02-28 22:44:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 45,453
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13281426
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CamelotQueen/pseuds/CamelotQueen
Summary: When Tony went to the Parker household to recruit Spider-Man, he had no idea what he was signing up for.AU where Tony is Peter's biological father and neither of them know.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So I've been sitting on this fic for a really long time. I figured it was about time to post it. Because what this fandom really needs is ANOTHER Biological Dad AU.

In hindsight, Tony probably should have done more research before he recruited Spider-Man. But in hindsight, he probably should have done a lot of things differently.

Knocking on the front door of a dingy apartment in Queens on a Wednesday afternoon, he wasn't thinking about the kid’s background, or how young he was, or why he decided to become a superhero. He was just desperate, he needed more allies, and he wanted to find him before Captain America did.

It was entirely selfish, and he knew it. He had almost come to expect it from himself at this point.

What he did _not_ expect was for the woman who answered the door to be as attractive as she was—a gorgeous Italian woman with short brunette hair and deep brown eyes. He _also_ did not expect her surprised expression to immediately morph into anger.

Before he even got the chance to say hi, the door was already being slammed back in his face. He quickly jammed his foot in the threshold before she could completely shut it, leaving a slight gap for him to peek through.

“Um, hello ma’am,” he greeted. “Perhaps we started off on the wrong foot. I'm Tony Stark.”

“Oh, I know _exactly_ who you are,” the woman huffed, turning away from the door to stomp into the rather small kitchen.

Tony hesitantly opened the door further and peeked inside. The apartment was small but homey. Lots of photographs adorned the walls, the furniture was worn but comfortable-looking and brightly colored, and a big window overlooked the Queens skyline. It was modest, and so unlike what he grew up with, but it was charming.

The woman was putting a kettle on the stove, resolutely ignoring Tony. Her movements were stiff and tense. Tony stepped inside and closed the door behind him gently. He felt rather out of place in his expensive suit. He straightened out his jacket self-consciously and walked over to the kitchen island.

“You shouldn't have come here,” the woman said tersely, scrubbing angrily at a mug in the sink.

“I'm sorry for the intrusion, Ms. Parker—”

“May,” she corrected. “Call me May.”

“Right, May,” Tony amended. “But your son has qualified—”

 _“Nephew,”_ she interrupted again, sounding somehow even more agitated.

“Your _nephew_ has qualified for a grant from the September Foundation.”

May threw the rag in the sink and spun around to squint at Tony. “Excuse me?”

Again, not the reaction Tony was expecting. “What?”

“What grant? I don’t know about a grant.”

“Uh, well… he applied for it. I’ve sent him emails, but he didn’t respond, so I figured I’d come over to hash it out in person. It’s very prestigious—”

“Oh, you just thought you’d _stop by_ to offer him a grant? Is that your best excuse?”

Tony made a face. _“What?”_

“You know, you have a lot of nerve, ignoring us for fifteen years and then waltzing back out of the blue… _why?_ What's in it for you?”

Tony blinked, perplexed.

“I'm sorry, are we on the same page here? Your son— _sorry, nephew—_ applied for a grant? I'm just here to ask about an opportunity for him to travel to Germany with me.”

“Germany? With _you?”_ May laughed sarcastically.  

Okay, this wasn’t going well. Tony had no idea what May was so angry about, but it was probably something she had seen on the news. Tony had been getting a lot of bad press recently, but geez… you’d think she’d be more excited about the grant.

“Yes, for the… Stark Internship Retreat…” he trailed off.

“Okay, enough. Tell me what this is really about,” May snapped.

_Did she know about Spider-Man?_

“I’m sorry, am I missing something?” he asked, choosing to play aloof for now.

May stared at him and cocked her head, as if she were trying to figure him out. She seemed to come to a conclusion as she placed her hand on her hip.

“You don't know, do you?”

“Uhh… know what?”

May closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She opened her mouth to speak again, but at that moment the door handle jiggled and both their heads snapped to the entrance as a young kid entered the apartment wearing a hoodie and a pizza T-shirt.

“Hey, Aunt Ma…”

His voice immediately trailed off as he noticed Tony Stark standing in front of him. His eyes widened comically and he dropped his backpack to the floor and took out his headphones, staring in confusion and awe. Tony quirked a smile. At least the kid wasn’t hostile too.

“Hey, Mr. Parker,” he greeted casually. He could feel May glaring at him from behind the counter.

“Um, what… what are you doing… I… hey! I… I… I’m Peter,” the kid stuttered, his expression alternating between a beaming smile and complete panic. He fidgeted with the strings on his hoodie before wrapping his arms around his chest self-consciously.

“Tony,” he nodded in reply.

“W-what are you doing here?” Peter asked in exasperation.

“I’m here about the grant,” Tony gave him a meaningful look. “Did you get my emails?”

Peter looked lost and Tony threw in a couple of what he prayed were subtle winks his way. May was already scrutinizing him enough, he hoped his head was turned far enough that she couldn’t see his face.

“Oh! Oh… yeah, the grant…” Peter trailed off, playing along, although his face betrayed his confusion.

“Why didn’t you tell me about the grant, Peter?” Aunt May asked suspiciously, cocking her head and folding her arms across her chest.

“I, uh… well I know how much you like surprises, so…”

“Things like this you should really discuss with me first, Peter.”

“I, uh… I… sorry?” Peter looked to Tony for help, eyes wide.

Tony realized in that moment how _small_ he looked. The videos made him look a lot bigger. But watching him look to Tony with big brown, panicked eyes and a silly graphic tee, he really looked like the fifteen year old skinny kid he was, and not at all a superhero.

“Can I get five minutes with Peter?” Tony asked.

May squinted her eyes again.

“To talk about the grant,” Tony clarified. He didn’t know what he did to get on her bad side, but he needed to try to appease her however he could. “Which, you know, is _very_ well funded. Very prestigious, looks great on a resume, all that jazz. We were very impressed by Peter’s application. He’s a smart kid, and we think he has a lot of potential.”

May studied him again, and Tony was pretty sure a woman hadn't made him that nervous in a _long_ time, until she finally sighed and relented.

“Oh, okay,” she threw her hands in the air. “Fine. _Five_ minutes.”

The conversation with Peter went a lot better than the one with May. He was actually impressed by the maturity of the kid. He was just a sophomore at Midtown Tech, but the weight of his sense of responsibility was heavier than someone twice his age should be bearing.

It made something ache deep in his chest. When he asked him why he did this (because he had to know… most kids look up to superheroes, but none of them actually _go out and become one_ ) he responded, _“when you can do the things that I can, but you don’t, and then the bad things happen, they happen because of you.”_

It struck at an exposed nerve. He stared at Peter, and Peter looked away bashfully. It was disorienting to see such insecurity from someone who he had watched stop a high speed car with his bare hands online. He saw a bit of himself in Peter in that moment, though not himself at that age. No, when he was Peter’s age, he had absolutely no sense of maturity—always trying to rebel against his father and desperate for his attention at the same time. He didn’t remind him of his younger self at all, but rather who he has become… a worn-down soul burdened by past mistakes and desperate to prove himself worthy of the title of hero. That was too much to be placed on such a young person’s shoulders.

Tony knew that the kid had been doing this hero business solo for months. Who knows what he had seen in that time? And he wouldn't stop willingly, that much was for sure.

He also knew the ratty homemade suit he wore barely protected anything except for his identity, and he knew that Peter needed a mentor. If Peter was going to risk his life, Tony figured he might as well take him under his wing. Was he the best for the job? Probably not. Someone like Captain America would probably be much more equipped to handle a stubborn, teenaged superhero, but… well. Unfortunately, Tony was all he had right now.

“You've ever been to Germany?”

 

* * *

 

May finally relented and let Peter go to Germany, if only because she couldn’t withhold such a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity from him. But she seemed less than pleased that it was with Tony Stark. Tony wasn’t really sure what her particular beef was with him, but being a public figure, he was more than used to being on either end of the approval spectrum. It seemed everyone either idolized or hated him, and lately it tended to lean towards the latter.

May _did_ pull him into the hallway before he left to gauge what the trip was actually about. Tony had at least planned on her being a helicopter parent, so he had over-prepared a fake itinerary, which ended up coming in handy. She was still suspicious though, and Tony wondered if she knew about Spider-Man. She might, but Tony wasn’t about to say anything, so he just answered all her questions with his pre-prepared lies.

She seemed to be appeased after a while, because she let him go and made him promise to not get Peter into any trouble. He smiled and assured her that he would be completely safe. He felt kind of bad about it, but it wasn’t like Peter was any safer at home fighting criminals every night on his own, right?

Nonetheless, all the details were sorted out, and Peter was set to meet up with him in Germany. He purposefully left the details vague because the less Peter knew the better. He didn't want him trying to play hero, he just wanted him on the sidelines as a pair of extra hands. His webs could come in real handy slowing people down, especially with the suit Tony designed for him.

Tony began designing the suit the second he saw the first YouTube video of him. He designed it in respect to the moniker of Spider-Man, as well as kept to the blue and red color scheme the kid seemed to have going on, but he tweaked the rest of it… that is, he made it look like a multi-billionaire who specialized in weaponized suits made it rather than a high schooler from Queens who scavenged for all his material in the dumpsters, at the dollar store, or in his science classroom.

Not to say that Tony wasn't impressed that Peter could scrap that suit together with limited resources. It was surprisingly high tech. With focusing lenses and webbing of his own invention, Peter had a real knack for science. Maybe he'd give Tony a run for his money someday.

But when it came down to it, Peter was still just a kid. So even though he was bringing him into a fight, he tried to be responsible about this. He instructed Peter to lay low and stay on the sidelines, he gave him the suit for extra protection (and even equipped it with several safety precautions that would come in handy once Peter went back to being solo), and most of all—the fight was strictly between the good guys. Sure, it was likely to get nasty if things went south, but it wasn’t like any of them would resort to anything drastic. He was pretty sure they would all pull their punches.

Peter was outright _enthused_ about taking part in a fight with/against the Avengers. After his initial hesitation about missing school _(my god, how could someone that seemed so mature also be that naive)_ he practically _vibrated_ in anticipation. Even with only vague details about what was going on and the order to lay low, he was so ready.

It reminded Tony that although Peter seemed mature and had the strength of ten men, he was still a kid. He had to be careful. Kids were impressionable, or so he was told. He didn’t want any of his bad habits to rub off on him. Peter was too young, his own mortality was immaterial to him. He regarded battle with such an attitude that suggested he hadn’t yet learned that he was capable of peril. Tony intended to keep it that way for as long as he could.

Tony didn’t have much contact with Peter during the few days between their first meeting and landing in Germany. He figured the best mentoring method was to monitor him at a friendly distance. He had enough going on in his own life that he couldn’t be entertaining an overly enthusiastic teen 24/7, but he also decided that the less Peter saw of him, the better. It was already abundantly clear that Peter idolized him. What was that phrase? _Never meet your heroes._ He was pretty sure if he spent enough time with him, it would shatter Peter’s naive impression that the Avengers were a perfect, unstoppable team and that Iron Man was incapable of fault.

Tony would just end up disappointing him, that much was for sure. Learning too much about the fight would also shatter his sense of heroic optimism. Peter genuinely believed that all they had to do was stop Captain America and his buddies from getting on that plane and everything would be resolved. It was much more complicated than that, but the boy couldn't comprehend the Avengers being even the slightest bit morally grey.

 _“It wasn't your fault, Mr. Stark,”_ he had said humbly, looking down at his clenched fists during their one brief meeting at Stark Tower prior to landing in Germany. _“What happened in Sokovia. You know, the media, they're always looking for someone to blame. But sometimes… it really is just an accident. It was just an accident…”_

Tony had the feeling Peter wasn't just referring to Sokovia, and his guilty expression gave him the idea that perhaps he was trying to convince himself as well. Tony appreciated the sentiment, but disregarded it. Of course it had been an accident, but that didn't mean they couldn't be held accountable. That's exactly why he was flying Peter out to Germany. Heroes could do bad things with good intentions. He wasn't about to make those decisions. He had already sacrificed enough innocent lives with that self-righteous attitude. No more.

 

* * *

 

Tony vastly underestimated how intense the fight was going to get. At some point after a fiery truck was thrown at him and a man grew ten times the size of a normal person, he found Peter unconscious on the ground. Frantically, he ran over to him _(oh god, his aunt was going to_ kill _him if he returned him with any visible cuts and bruises)_ and knelt down.

“Kid, you alright?”

The limp figure sprang to life. Peter spun around, mask half off and fists flying. Tony had to hold his wrists to prevent him from landing any hits.

“Woah! Same side!” he shouted as he restrained him. “Guess who? Hi, it’s me!”

“Oh, hey man,” the kid said breathlessly once he finally registered who he was. He relaxed, closing his eyes and taking deep breaths. “That was scary.”

“Yeah,” Tony agreed. “You’re done. Alright?”

“What?”

“Stay down, you did a good job,” he asserted.

“No, I’m good! I’m fine!” Peter tried to fight back.

“Stay down!” Tony repeated.

“No, I can get up, I’ll get him back!” Peter began to sit up, but Tony wasn’t having any of it. His role was over, and Tony wasn’t endangering him any more, especially after the kid already got more hurt than he bargained for.

“You’re going home or I’ll call Aunt May,” it was a total bluff, Tony was not risking the wrath of that woman by telling her about any of this, but it was all he could think of.

“Stay down!” he called back one more time before rejoining the fight.

Everything went to shit from there. The scuffle between friends was over. Suddenly, Rhodey was shot from the sky and was hurtling towards the earth in a dead suit at increasing speeds. Tony’s world came to a stop when he hit the ground. Peter was gone from his mind, and Rhodey filled every crevice.

He was lucky he survived. He immediately flew Rhodey back to the States for medical treatment. He felt bad about leaving Peter alone in Germany, but it wasn’t like he was unsupervised. He was with Happy, who would safely escort him back to New York. Until then, Tony was staying with Rhodey in Boston while he underwent intensive surgery.

 _Permanent spinal damage_ was the final diagnosis. Tony’s heart sank. After everything they’ve been through together, he knew Rhodey would take it hard. But he would stay strong, like he always did. He was always the rock for Tony, it was time he returned the favor. He would do everything in his power to make sure Rhodey had the best care in the world.

In the waiting room, he began designing the blueprints for bionic legs. It wouldn’t be much different from the Iron Man armor, the trick would be making it discreet enough so that Rhodey could function in day to day life. But with enough patience and innovation, Tony was sure it could be done.

“Mr. Stark,” a soft voice broke him from his concentration. He looked up to see a young woman in scrubs looking directly at him. He stood at full attention, closing his notebook and tucking it under his arm.

“James Rhodes is awake now,” she informed him. “He requested to see you.”

Rhodey lay still in his bed, staring at the ceiling. He almost looked like a dead man. He wore a solemn expression, and didn’t turn to face Tony when he walked in. Tony felt a stab of guilt in his heart when he saw his friend lying there. He felt some responsibility for putting him there. In his panic, he made the call to Vision to shoot Falcon, which ended up getting misdirected at Rhodey. None of this should have even happened in the first place. The fight was bound to get out of hand, and he was a fool to think it would remain civil.

He awkwardly walked past the nurse as she let him in the room and nodded to her as she closed the door. He walked to Rhodey’s side stiffly. He was unsure of what to do with himself—and whether or not Rhodey was mad at him. His blank expression gave nothing away. Tony hesitantly grabbed a seat by the window and sat down at his bedside.

He looked around, unsure of what to say. Rhodey began to laugh softly. He looked at his friend incredulously.

“Oh boy,” Rhodey chuckled. “This is bad… this is real bad.”

“Rhodey, I’m so sorry,” once the silence was broken, Tony’s words were like a waterfall. “I didn’t mean for this to happen. Things got so out of hand. I didn’t realize… I’ll fix this. I’m going to fix it. Look.”

He hastily pulled out his notebook from under his arm and frantically flipped to the newest page.

“See? Already getting started on a solution here. I’m thinking nickel titanium? One of the alloys used in the suit—it’s lightweight and easy to manufacture. The only problem will be getting it—”

“Tony,” Rhodey interrupted him.

Tony looked back up at him with wide eyes. He looked… resigned.

“I don’t blame you,” he admitted quietly, his eyes closed.

Tony felt relief wash over him at the admittance, but—

“You should.”

Rhodey looked back at him with his _you’re being an idiot_ expression, but before he could argue, Tony continued.

“I got you into this mess. That fight shouldn’t have even happened. I shouldn’t have dragged so many people into it. It didn’t even matter anyways, because Cap and his war criminal friend got away. You _should_ blame me, because—”

“Tony, _stop._ ”

Rhodey put his hand up and Tony closed his mouth.

“It wasn’t your fault,” Rhodey looked directly into his eyes and said it with such sincerity that it made Tony’s eyes water. “You couldn’t have predicted this. I know it’s in your nature to blame everything on yourself but please, don’t. Not this time.”

Tony looked at the ground.

“Cap shouldn’t have put you in this position in the first place, and you know that. Now he’s off doing whatever super illegal thing he’s doing, and we’re stuck facing the consequences.”

He gestured to his legs for emphasis.

“Now, here’s what we’re going to do. You’re going to build me a new pair of legs, I’m going to recover, and we’re going to get back to fighting, because that’s what we do. Okay?”

Tony nodded, at a loss for words at the moment.

Rhodey quirked a smile. “Good.”

Tony knew it wasn’t that simple. He that Rhodey had a long couple of months ahead of him until he fully recovered. He knew that things would never be the same again. But he was content with the simplified truth. For now, that was all he could do.

Focus on the now.

They faded into a comfortable silence for a while. Tony went back to sketching his designs, and Rhodey stared pensively out the window.

“So,” Rhodey said after a few minutes. “Spider-kid?”

Tony groaned and Rhodey smiled.

“It’s Spider-Man, technically,” he corrected, and Rhodey laughed.

“Oh, _man,_ was it? That definitely didn’t sound like a man to me.”

“He might have been… fifteen years old…”

“Fifteen?” Rhodey exclaimed. “Jesus, Tony. Where are you pulling your recruits from now, daycare?”

“Relax, relax,” Tony swiveled around to make sure no nurses were in the hallway, and then continued in a hushed voice. “He’s from Queens. His name is Peter Parker. He was already doing this hero business long before I found him. I figured this would be a good initiation.”

Rhodey snorted.

“I know, I know. Bad call.”

“Where is he now?” Rhodey asked.

“Well,” Tony looked at his watch. “Probably currently boarding a plane back to New York.”

“You left him in Germany!?” Rhodey jolted up but then winced and sat back down, grimacing in pain.

“No, I didn’t. Well, yes… but with Happy. He isn’t alone.”

“Oh man, Stark,” Rhodey shook his head. “If you’re going to be this kid’s mentor, you need to get better at this.”

“Who said I was going to be his mentor?”

“Please,” Rhodey gave him a judgmental side-eye. “Don’t even pretend that wasn’t your plan.”

“I…” Tony trailed off, and then shrugged. “Okay. I was thinking of being his mentor. Just to make sure he doesn’t kill himself on the job.”

“Just make sure you don’t do anything stupid, okay?” Rhodey pleaded. “He's a kid, not a robot. He has feelings and stuff.”

“Very funny,” Tony replied deadpan. “For the record, I know the difference between a robot and a human. But the lines may become blurred once I get you these bionic legs.”

Rhodey rolled his eyes and that was the end of it for now.

 

* * *

 

Hours later, he was stepping out of his private jet in New York after Rhodey convinced him to meet the kid there. He initially argued against it, wanting to stay by his side, but he complained that he needed to sleep anyways and warned Tony that if he left a bad impression too early, that Peter would refuse to listen to him. That's how kids were, apparently.

So that's how he found himself waiting impatiently outside of Peter’s plane before he finally stepped out.

“Mr. Stark!” he exclaimed upon spotting him, rushing down the steps to greet him with his giant bag, almost tripping over it.

Tony raised his hands in a dramatic gesture and nodded. “I'm here.”

Peter jogged up to him and stared up at him with an awed half-smile.

“Mr. Stark, that was so awesome! Thanks for letting me come!”

 _Awesome?_ That's not how Tony would have described the chaos that had transpired, but he supposed that to a teen who had no stakes in the event and just got to meet all his favorite superheroes at once, then it could be described as awesome.

“Well, I’m glad one of us had fun,” he replied tersely, taking off his sunglasses. “Come on, let's get you back to your aunt.”

Peter’s smile fell and he looked up at Tony sincerely.

“How's your friend? War Machine? Will he be okay?”

Tony was actually touched that he asked, but he waved Peter off. “He’ll be fine, don't you worry about it.” He wrapped his arm around Peter’s shoulders and led him to the car.

Happy hopped in the front and they stepped into the back after loading Peter’s luggage into the trunk. A few minutes into the drive Peter whipped out his phone and began filming.

Tony donned his signature aloofness to hide how distracted he felt over Rhodey, Steve, and everything that just happened. Peter still didn't know the full story and he didn't want to burden him with the details. These guys were his heroes, and he knew he was particularly starry eyed over Captain America.

So he pretended everything was back to normal during the car ride and joked around with Peter like everything was okay again. He tried to give Peter some parting advice but he didn't think it went over very well. If anything, it just confused Peter more than helped him. Oh well, he wasn't under any false presumptions that he was going to be any good at this mentoring thing.

Peter was absolutely floored that he was going to be able to keep the suit, as if Tony would let him go back to protecting the streets in glorified pajamas. There was something adorably endearing to his excitement, though, as well as his awkwardness. When Tony reached for the car door to let Peter out, he instinctively reached for a hug.

“Not a hug, just opening the door for you,” Tony clarified.

The boy let out a quiet ‘oh’ and stepped out of the car. He looked back at Tony with wide eyes. Tony smirked as Happy pulled away to drive back home. He briefly looked back at Peter in the back window. The kid was staring at the retreating car as if it would be the last time he ever saw it again. Of course, that wasn’t true. Tony may or may not have offered Peter an ‘internship’ with him. It would be a good way to keep the young hero in check. And yes, maybe he also enjoyed his talk with him. After all the shit that had been going down recently, Peter was like a breath of fresh air. His enthusiasm for heroism contrasted greatly with Tony’s jaded cynicism, but he remembered that he was that way at first. Although he had pridefully boasted to the world that he was Iron Man, Peter at least had the common sense to keep his identity a secret.

If Tony was being honest, another reason why he wanted to mentor Peter was because he saw a lot of himself in him. The younger version of himself at least, when he first became a hero, before he messed up so badly that he was beyond redemption. He wanted to save Peter from that. He wanted to protect his enthusiasm, and his belief that good would always win and that he could trust himself to always do the right thing. He wanted to keep the harsh reality away from Peter for as long as he could. And he also wanted to bask in the kid’s hero worship for as long as he could until it wore off and Peter realized what the fight in Germany was really about, what really happened in Sokovia, and that the Avengers were nothing but a broken team that needed to be held accountable.

Perhaps that reason was a little more selfish. But he couldn’t help it. The way the kid looked at him, it made him feel like maybe he was still worth something. But then he remembered everything he’s done, all the civilian casualties he couldn’t prevent, and he crashed back into reality.

That wouldn’t happen to Peter. He wouldn’t be anything like him. He would be better.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tony doesn't know that Peter is his son. Yet. 
> 
> So I've kind of already written five chapters of this fic. I've been nervous to post it, but here goes nothing.
> 
> I also kind of sort of have a playlist that I've been making for this. You can listen to it here: https://open.spotify.com/user/85q3bgs309hbhpk3gy05kzr4w/playlist/0t231uZBFsORBFTHmF0JzG
> 
> The title of this fic is from one of the songs, Cecilia and the Satellite by Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Out of all the reasons Tony expected May to hate him for, it wasn't... this.

Tony woke up in his lab the next morning to his phone ringing next to him on the desk. He sat up and stretched, popping all of his aching joints. He groggily reached for the phone and answered it half-conscious.

“Hello?”

“What the  _ hell _ did you tell my nephew!?”

Tony paused to rub his face and process the words.

“I’m sorry… who is this?”

“May,” the voice replied. “May Parker. You know, the one who stupidly let you take her nephew to Germany.” 

“Hey, that's not fair,” Tony furrowed his eyebrows. “I thought he had a great time.” 

He hoped she didn't notice the bruises from the fight. 

“Oh, he did,” May replied. “In fact, he’s been going on and on about a follow-up internship that you promised him.” 

Tony suddenly felt more awake. “I… may have mentioned that.” 

“You can't just do that, Tony,” May seethed. “You can't just promise him something without discussing it with me first, okay?  _ I'm _ his guardian,  _ I'm _ the one who's been raising him for the past ten years. I make the decisions.” 

“I’m really sorry about that,” Tony scrambled. “He just did such a good job in Germany. I thought he would be perfect for my internship program. I just mentioned it briefly, I didn't think he would take it so much to heart.” 

“Yeah, well he won't stop talking about it now,” May said bluntly. “And what am I supposed to say? That he can't do it?”

“So he  _ can _ do it?” 

“No, I—” May paused and breathed. “It's complicated. On the one hand, of course I want to let him do it! It's a great opportunity. On the other hand...”

“Do you… not want him to do it because it's with me?” Tony asked. Might as well come right out with it. It was obvious that May had distaste for him. 

“No,” May paused again, then said slowly: “not in the way you think.” 

“Well then, what is it?” 

There was silence on the other end for a moment, then the sound of a deep breath being released.

“This isn’t really something I can explain over the phone,” she eventually replied.  “I think… are you free to meet up for coffee?” 

“Yeah,” Tony blinked. “Do you want to meet now? I know this great coffee place in Manhattan—” 

“No,” May interrupted. “Not in public. Could you meet me here? Soon. I don't want you to be here when Peter gets back from school.” 

Tony ignored the pit in his stomach. “Sure, I'll be right there.”

 

* * *

 

May sipped at her coffee, hunched over the small kitchen table, apprehensively looking out the window as if someone might come crashing through. 

“So,” Tony started, “What did you want to talk about?” 

“It’s, uh… hard to explain,” May admitted. 

Tony thought about the fact that he went behind her back and brought her nephew who was secretly a superhero to Germany to fight against his friends-turned-enemies in a battle he wasn’t even supposed to be a part of because he was desperate and needed extra hands. 

“Try me.” 

May took a deep breath. “Okay, well… where do I begin? I guess… I never even expected to tell you this. I mean, who ever expects  _ Tony Stark _ to show up at their doorstep out of the blue? No one does, that’s crazy. So I thought that maybe you… but you didn’t. So I need to tell you.” 

Tony quirked his eyebrow. May’s rambling wasn’t exactly making anything clearer. 

May shook her head. “Let me start over. Let’s paint a picture: Peter was born to a single mother who loved him very much. Soon after he was born, she met a lovely man—my husband’s brother—and got married, and they had a happy family for a while. But then they were both killed in a plane crash. They were only supposed to be gone for a little while, and me and my husband Ben were watching him for them. But then all of a sudden, he was an orphan, and we knew what we had to do. We adopted our nephew and raised him as our own. It was hard,  _ really _ hard. My sister-in-law was an amazing, resilient woman and her shoes were hard to fill.” 

Tony listened intently. He knew Peter’s aunt was his legal guardian, but he didn’t know the details. He wondered how such a kind-hearted and optimistic kid could have such a tragic past. He never would have guessed from the way Peter acted. 

“And then, six months ago, my husband was killed. He was… he was shot by a mugger. And so… since then it’s just been me.” 

May took a shaky breath. Tony placed his hand over hers from across the table.

“I’m so sorry,” he offered. 

“I don’t need sympathy,” she pulled her hand away. “I’m telling you this because I need you to understand how difficult Peter’s life has been. He’s been through a lot. And since Ben died, he hasn’t been the same. He’s been really closed off, he won’t talk to me, and I know he sneaks out. I don’t know what he’s doing but… I don’t want to pry. I’m afraid he’ll shut me out completely.” 

Tony nodded. So, she didn’t know about Spider-Man. 

“I feel like I’ve been pulled in a million different directions these past couple of months. Between mourning Ben, taking care of Peter by myself, and trying to work full time to support the both of us, I feel like I’m going crazy. But I have a responsibility to Peter, you understand that? I’ve raised him for the past ten years and I’ve worked so hard to make sure he grew up to be a good kid. And I think I’ve done a good job.” 

“You have,” Tony agreed. Peter was definitely a good kid. May didn’t even know the half of it. 

“So I kinda felt like I had the rug ripped out from under me when you showed up the other week.” 

Tony furrowed his eyebrows. 

“I’m sorry, what exactly does this all have to do with me?” 

May shifted in her seat and cupped her coffee cup in her hands, looking down at the contents instead of at him. 

“You see… how do I explain this? Peter’s mom, she had Peter before she got married to her husband, Richard. She—Mary, she went to a crazy party with her friends in New York one night. Her friends kind of dragged her to it because she had recently been through a bad break up. But they made her go because a bunch of celebrities were supposed to be there, and they didn’t want her to miss it. Well…” 

She looked back up at Tony and he felt his stomach twist. 

“She met a celebrity, alright. She met  _ you. _ And you two… well, you know how it goes. Womanizing billionaire who always gets what he wants, heartbroken girl looking for a rebound… ta da.” 

Tony didn’t like where this was headed. His mind was working overtime, trying to conjure up the face of a woman he’d met at a party sixteen years ago. Truthfully… there had been many women. One furtive night was indistinguishable from another. 

“And… well. She got pregnant. She tried to contact you to let you know but, characteristically, you never responded. Instead, your legal team showed up to her house and made her sign like… a  _ million _ non-disclosure agreements.”

Tony’s head was spinning. This was too much information at once. 

“Wait, so are you telling me… Peter is…?” 

“Your son,” May finished, nodding. 

“No, that can’t be right,” Tony said immediately.

May glared at him. “Well, it is. Whether you believe it or not.” 

“How can you be sure?” 

“Are you implying that Mary lied? Well, let me tell you Tony… I trusted Mary. She was a good person. Peter got that from her. From you, he got a lot of other things. Everyday, I notice it more and more. He definitely got a lot of his looks from his mother, but his eyes… those are definitely yours. And his personality. He can be so… stubborn. And  _ reckless _ . God, it drives me crazy sometimes. He has absolutely no self-preservation skills. I wonder where he got that, but then I see you flying around in that metal suit on the news and I get it.” 

Tony looked down guiltily.  _ And he’s Spider-Man too, _ he thought to himself, but didn’t dare say it out loud. 

“And… he’s so  _ smart _ . He definitely didn’t get that from any of us. He’s fifteen years old and he’s already in all advanced classes. He got placed in basically the best tech school in New York, and he’s still one of the smartest in his class. It’s unbelievable, really. I guess it was only a matter of time before he caught your eye.” 

Tony looked back up. It really was a total coincidence that he found Peter. At least, he thought it was, but maybe he found Peter because he was so much like him. 

“So whether or not you believe it, Tony, I know it’s true,” May finished. “Besides, it’s not like we’re looking for money. Mary accepted that you wouldn’t help raise her son, so she did it herself without complaint. We’ve lived modestly our whole lives, but we’ve been happy. The only reason I’m telling you this is because you thought it would be a good idea to offer Peter and internship and get his hopes up.” 

Tony’s mind was working overtime putting all the pieces together. Every interaction he’s had with Peter, however few there had been, was being analyzed and deconstructed. Had there been clues all this time that he had missed?

“Tony, listen to me,” Aunt May’s voice reigned him back in. He turned back to face her with wide eyes. “I need you to understand. I can’t say no to this opportunity, Peter will think I’m ruining his life or something. But I need you to keep things professional with Peter. I told you the truth because you need to know why I’m being so protective of him, but he doesn’t know you're his father. Mary told him that Richard was his stepdad, but she didn’t tell him that his real dad was Tony Stark. She didn’t want her son seeing you on TV and wondering why you never wanted him. And I respected her wishes. So you’re not allowed to tell him.”

She raised an accusing finger at Tony. 

“I’m the one that raised him, I know him better than you do, and you haven’t done anything for him for the past fifteen years, okay? You forfeited your right to be his father when you had your legal team take care of Mary instead of handling it yourself like a mature adult. And I know your reputation... a loose canon, noncommittal, flighty. Peter’s a good kid, he doesn’t need that in his life. He’s already lost enough father figures.”

Tony’s heart felt heavy. He stared at May, at her intense eyes, her set jaw, her squared shoulders. Her disapproval of him was palpable, and he was faced with the reality that he deserved every bit of it. 

“Do we have a deal?” May asked.

Tony nodded. “Yeah… yes, of course.” 

May squinted at him. 

“I… I promise. You’re right, I wouldn’t be good for Peter. I mean, I don’t know what I’m doing, and you… you look like you’ve got it covered.”

May nodded slowly. “I’m trusting you with this, okay? I didn’t have to tell you, but I thought you should know. I thought you already did. But I guess there have been a lot of women, and a lot of scandals you’ve had to cover up. Peter is just one more.” 

Tony flinched but said nothing. He really had no idea, and he was pretty sure the information was purposefully kept from him, but he deserved May’s words. Obadiah might have gone behind his back in more ways than he realized throughout his career, but he was still responsible for the life of a child that he neglected. 

Tony looked behind her on the fridge and noticed a picture of Peter from recently, accepting some award, smiling. It looked like a science fair or something.

His head swiveled around and he was suddenly hyper aware of the abundance of pictures of Peter in the apartment, all in various stages of his life. There was one of him eating an ice cream cone, he looked around five or six years old, the melted ice cream all over his face and he was laughing up at the camera with a wide open mouth, tongue sticking out. 

Then there was another of him with May and who he assumed was his Uncle Ben, arms around each other and smiling, wearing raincoats and standing in front of Niagara Falls. 

And another of him sitting in front of a birthday cake, the candles in the shape of a ‘10’ and he was sucking in air—

“You should go,” May said, breaking him from his trance. “Before Peter gets home.” 

_ Peter.  _

Tony nodded. “Yeah… yeah, I should…” 

He stood up, taking one more quick scan of the room. Everything felt different suddenly. His world had been tilted on its axis, everything he thought he understood about his life was wrong. 

“Thanks for… well, I’m glad you told me…” 

May nodded in understanding. “Yeah, no problem. Have a good night. And email me about the details of Peter’s internship, okay? Me, not Peter.” 

Tony nodded numbly. “You got it.”

Tony wandered into the hallway and closed the door slowly behind him. He ignored the looks of the residents he passed, observing his surroundings as if for the first time. 

He considered his life to be in stages. The first stage of his life was up until he was 21, when his parents died. That stage was very tumultuous between vying for his dad’s attention and going off the deep end in true ‘heir to a billionaire’ fashion—the drugs, the alcohol, the women, the partying… all of it. Then once his parents died and he inherited the company, thus began phase two. He was still very much a wildcard, and very immature, but he had responsibility for the first time in his life. However, he wouldn’t know true responsibility until phase three—that fateful day in Afghanistan. Since Iron Man came into his life, he became a completely different person. 

But now, he felt like he was shifting into a new phase. There was a distinct line in his life between before finding out he was a father and after. 

He was a  _ father _ . He had a  _ son _ . Peter was his  _ son _ . 

What kind of cruel twist of fate was it that he stumbled upon Peter completely by accident? Or, was it an accident at all? Peter caught his eye because of Spider-Man, would he even have become Spider-Man at all if it wasn’t in his genes? 

This was too much for Tony to think about. He stumbled into his car shakily and looked at himself in the rearview mirror. He promised May he would keep things professional with Peter, that he wouldn’t try to act like his father. But then he thought about how he was already planning on going behind her back and mentoring Peter as a superhero. 

  
He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. What the  _ hell  _ was he supposed to do now? 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think I'm going to try to update this every Thursday. I have a good buffer right now, so hopefully I'll be able to maintain that for a while.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony does what Tony knows best. He ignores his problems until they get worse.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AHHHH I almost forgot to post this today! Technically, there's still an hour left of Thursday here, so I'm still on schedule. 
> 
> Let the Homecoming scenes commence!

Rhodey was finally cleared to leave the hospital with an intensive physical therapy schedule laid out for him. Tony was relieved, traveling back and forth between Boston and New York had been getting exhausting. Between the big move to upstate New York, the lawyers for the Accords up his ass, and his newfound discovery of his parents’ murder, Tony didn’t really have the time to keep it up—much less to think about Peter. And if he was being honest with himself, he was kind of avoiding the subject lately.

Thank god he didn’t give Peter his personal number, because Happy had been fielding all of his messages and calls and apparently it was  _ a lot. _ Happy was getting very frustrated and wanted him to reach out to the kid to appease him, but Tony kept deflecting. He felt kind of shitty about it, considering the kid worshipped him and he was ignoring him, but things were different now.

Things were very, very different. 

The best way for Tony to get his mind off things was through distraction, and boy did he have a lot to be distracted by. So he just let his brain go on autopilot for a while and pretended that Peter didn't exist. 

He didn’t tell Rhodey what May told him. He knew if he did, he would only try to give him advice and tell him what the responsible thing to do was, and he just didn’t need that right now. He didn’t even tell Pepper. They had only just ended their break and everything seemed too fragile. 

He couldn’t drop this bomb on her. 

He looked at his designs for the Iron Spider that he left up on his screen. Shaking his head, he swiped them away. He didn't want to think about how he promised Peter he would stay in contact with him. The kid’s been handling things on his own fine so far, and he had Happy’s number if he was ever in serious danger. Plus, with the security protocols on the suit, Tony would get alerted if his vitals dropped. He would be fine without Tony as a constant presence, and he could use the internship as an excuse for his absence whenever he did his rounds as Spider-Man. So really, he's done more than enough. 

May was right, he never should have interfered in the first place. He got more than he bargained for by meddling with a teen’s heroic pastime. 

“Tony, you're still down here?” Pepper’s voice echoed down the stairs as she approached. 

“Ah, yeah. Just finishing things up, what time is it?” Tony asked.

“Almost midnight,” Pepper gave him a look. “You should come to bed now. You promised you wouldn’t get too wrapped up in your work anymore.” 

“Right, and I meant it,” Tony stepped away from his desk to pull Pepper close to him. “I’ll be five minutes.”

“Okay,” Pepper stroked his cheek fondly. “Are you sure you’re okay, though? You’ve been through a lot lately.” 

Tony nodded, masking his worry. She didn’t even know the half of it. “Yeah, just a lot on my plate right now. I feel kind of scattered.” 

“Understandable,” Pepper said. “But don’t stretch yourself too thin, okay? This move doesn’t have to be so rushed.” 

“You know I can’t stay here, Pepper,” Tony argued. “Not after everything that’s happened.” 

Pepper gave him a sad look. “I know.” She leaned up and kissed his forehead. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. At least he had her back, that was one thing in his life that was still going right. 

“I’m going to bed now,” Pepper looked at him meaningfully. “I expect you to join me before I fall asleep.”    
  
“I will,” Tony promised. “Let me just get everything cleaned up and I’ll head right upstairs.” 

Pepper nodded and left after giving his hand one last squeeze. Tony watched her disappear up the stairs before turning back to his work. 

He started to save everything and close it all down. When he reached the Iron Spider design, he hesitated and stared at it. He had started working on it briefly after finishing the first Spider-Man suit design, but had abandoned it after his talk with May. It was supposed to be for if, god forbid, Peter needed to face any foe more formidable than a common petty thief. He hoped he wouldn’t have to use it in the near future, but he figured it never hurt to be over-prepared.

If Peter was really his son, it was the least Tony could do to offer him the best protection after not being there for him all his life. Maybe if he did this, some of the guilt he felt in the past couple of days would be eased a little. 

He hunkered down and got to work.

 

* * *

 

“Tony, you're doing it again!” 

Tony jolted awake at Pepper’s exclamation. He raised his head and a piece of paper was stuck to his cheek. He batted it away. His neck hurt like  _ hell.  _ He stretched and he could hear several popping sounds. 

“Tony…” Pepper repeated. 

“Yes, honey?”

“It’s the morning! You said five minutes.” 

“Well, I meant it, but then I had an idea and I had to work on it before I lost the motivation…” 

Pepper looked to the left of him and noticed the half completed Iron Spider suit laying on the table. 

“What is this?” She grabbed it. 

“Hey, be careful with that!” Tony reached to snatch it away from her. “You'll mess up the wiring.” 

“What, are you going for a more skin tight look? What's that for?” 

“It's not for me,” Tony mumbled, spinning around in his chair to continue working on it. 

“It isn't? Then who's it for?” Pepper asked. 

“It's for… Spider-Man.” 

“Spider who?” 

“Spider-Man, you know, the hero from Queens. The one we saw the YouTube videos of.” 

“Oh yeah,” Pepper mused. “But why are you making a suit for him? Did you meet him?” 

“I may have… taken him to Germany.” 

“You did  _ what?” _

“He helped me fight against Cap!” 

“And why didn't you tell me this?” 

“Because we were on a break at the time,” Tony snapped. “And it hadn't seemed relevant to mention until now.” 

“Not relevant? Tony, how long have you been working with him for?” 

“I'm not really working  _ with  _ him, I wouldn't say that. I just… recruited him for a quick job, and made him a new suit. I mean, you saw what he was wearing in the videos. Can't have him fighting in that.” 

“And now you're making him... another?” Pepper narrowed her eyes suspiciously. 

“I know how this looks, Pep, but I swear… this is the last one.” 

“I've heard that before.” 

Tony sighed, rubbing his face. This argument was going nowhere, and he knew whatever he said would just sound like an excuse. Pepper placed her hands on his shoulders, kneading gently. 

“I'm just worried about you, you know. This is like an addiction. You spend one night in the lab making suits again, suddenly you're hooked. And just because it's not for you doesn't mean it isn't the same.” 

She tilted her head and looked thoughtful. 

“This Spider-Man, why is he so important to you? This obsessive building stems from your need to protect. Why do you feel like you need to protect Spider-Man?” 

“Enough of the psychoanalysis, please,” Tony dismissed the question. 

“Tony,” she said, exasperated. 

“No, no, I get it,” he deflected. “Point taken. I'm going to the kitchen to make some coffee. Care to join me?” 

“You're not going to sleep?” 

“What's the point? It's already the morning, I'll just call it an early night tonight.” 

He made his way into the kitchen and began to prepare himself a pure espresso. He sorely needed it, the world felt fuzzy and there was a pressure building up behind his eyes. 

“Okay well, please Tony… if something’s bothering you, you know you can talk to me about it,” Pepper interrupted his brew to turn him around and cup his face. “You can tell me anything.” 

“I know,” he responded sincerely, but didn't say anything else. 

 

* * *

 

It took all of a week of Tony continuously staying up late to work on the Iron Spider suit and keeping Pepper in the dark about his recent discovery until she officially declared he was relapsing and decided he needed to take action. He knew she wasn't wrong, he knew he was handling the situation badly in the only way he knew how, but he needed something to take his mind off the constant guilt that had been swirling around in his mind since his talk with May. 

He couldn't deny it anymore, though, he definitely needed help. And he promised Pepper after the incident with the Mandarin that he would never let things spiral so out of control again. So when she sent him information about a therapeutic retreat in India, he knew better than to turn it down. It only took him a day to prepare the flight, pack, and drop down at the private resort. 

The place was massive, with his own private mega-suite, a rooftop pool and jacuzzi, friendly staff, and a bright color scheme that oozed happiness. Whether or not this place helped at all, Tony was sure he'd get his money’s worth. 

This was definitely a place where he could decompress. It was far away from New York with all of its baggage and memories, the news, the Accords, and everything that had been remotely stressful in his life lately. 

He'd even forfeited his phone to Pepper when they arrived and left his laptop back home. He didn't want to feel tempted to check up on things while he was trying to relax. However, he discreetly left the wifi connected to his high tech sunglasses. It was dishonest, but his paranoia prevented him from disconnecting completely. He commanded FRIDAY to only alert him if something dire happened. 

He mostly expected nothing to pop up and for his caution to be baseless, but to his surprise he was pinged with an alert only two days in. He checked it and—

_ Shit.  _ It was from Peter’s suit. He had reached maximum altitude so his parachute had been deployed. Tony had set an alarm to let him know if any of Peter’s emergency procedures had been triggered, but he didn't expect to ever get alerted for them. What the  _ hell  _ was he up to? Didn't he stick to petty thefts, street crimes, and general nefarious activities? 

But it seemed the parachute wasn't working because the speed that Peter was losing altitude was way too fast. Tony swore under his breath and retreated to a corner to remotely activate an Iron Man suit from his tower in New York. Luckily, Pepper was back in the hotel room so she wouldn’t see him breaking his promise. 

Peter’s signal crashed into the Hudson River around 30 seconds before the Iron Suit arrived at the target. The suit dove into the water. He could see through the cameras in the mask that Peter was wrapped in the white sheet like a corpse. He was completely still.  _ Shit.  _ Tony untangled him from the parachute and grabbed him under the arms, shooting back out of the water. His heart was beating fast in his chest. He couldn't give CPR remotely, the suit didn't have the capability. He would have to make do with just the chest compressions, but what if that didn’t work—

Thankfully, Peter came to in the air. “Oh, hey,” he said weakly, and Tony let out a breath. But the relief was soon replaced with anger. Peter had interrupted his retreat where he was supposed to destress for a  _ very stressful  _ reason. What was he  _ doing  _ that high in the air? That was higher than any building he had a right to be scaling. 

“What  _ happened?”  _ he snapped as soon as he dropped Peter down on top of a jungle gym. Just a few years ago that must’ve been the only thing he was attempting to scale. 

Peter excitedly explained the events that led to him falling from a thousand feet into the Hudson River and almost drowning as if they were an exciting adventure. He was completely oblivious to the tone of Tony’s voice and his own shivering in the rigid October cold. 

“How did you find me?” Peter finally ended. “Did you put a tracker in my suit or something?” 

“Uh, I put everything in your suit,” Tony admitted. At the time, he hadn't realized his personal ties with Peter, but that didn't make him any less willing to let a teenager run around the city with a high tech suit without some safety precautions. “Including this heater.” 

He pressed a button and it remotely activated Peter’s heating system. He could see the steam rise from the suit as Peter dried off and sighed in relief. 

“Ahh… that’s better, thanks.”

Tony ignored him and got back to the issue at hand. “What were you  _ thinking?”  _

Peter kept chattering on about taking this guy on as if he didn't understand his position at all. Tony had given him the suit under the assumption that he would stay low to the ground, a friendly neighborhood Spider-Man if you will. Not go off and try to take on weapons dealers by himself. 

As he argued with Peter, he began to raise his voice in a way he didn't realize until he was shouting,  _ “because I said so!” _ at a poor woman offering him a lei. 

“Sorry, teenager,” he explained. 

_ God,  _ he sounded like his father. 

He didn't like where this conversation was headed. He didn't want to fight with Peter, but he needed him to understand. This world was dangerous, and he wasn't ready for it. 

Talking to Peter gave him an uncomfortable pit in his stomach. On the one hand, he knew Peter was his son, but on the other hand, Peter didn’t know he was his father. And he felt distinctly  _ worried _ about Peter’s wellbeing which wasn’t exactly a foreign feeling but usually it wasn’t directed at back-talking, ungrateful teenagers. 

“It's never too early to start thinking about college,” he derailed the argument. He wanted to remind Peter on what he should be focusing on. “I have some pull at MIT.” 

_ Nepotism, good job,  _ he thought to himself. 

He ended the call.

 

* * *

 

He didn't hear from Peter again for a while after that. He was hoping that meant that he was laying low and listening to his advice, but he should have known that wouldn't be the case. Happy had alerted him that Peter was in DC for a Decathlon.  _ Perfect,  _ he thought.  _ That will keep him out of trouble.  _

Although it seemed the trouble found him anyways. He heard on the news later that Spider-Man saved a Decathlon team in DC from a freak accident in the Washington Monument. He had to rub his temples when he heard. Spider-Man randomly showing up in DC to help a Decathlon team from Queens was extremely suspicious. All anyone had to do was find out which one of the team members was mysteriously excluded from the elevator to put two and two together. He hoped nobody would think to do that. 

The explosive that went off in the elevator was concerning, though. Could it have possibly been the weapons dealers targeting Peter? Did they know his identity? Tony may have told Peter this was below his pay grade, but that didn't mean he couldn't leave an anonymous tip to the FBI… 

All of this stressing out over Peter was stressing him out, though. May told him to stay out of their business, and he was trying, but Peter made it so goddamn hard. He was also pretty sure he promised May that he wouldn’t hurt Peter, but did that include preventing Peter from getting hurt of his own volition?

Of course not. Peter wasn’t his problem. He may be his son, but like May said: he didn’t raise him, so his wellbeing wasn’t up to him. He recalled a certain blonde haired little boy that had been much easier to shake off despite a similar determination to latch on to Tony. But Harley hadn’t been Tony’s son, and he hadn’t been as determined to get himself killed. 

Although, Tony couldn’t be sure Peter was his son either. Just because May said it didn’t mean he had to take it at face value. Maybe she was convinced, but he wasn’t. He didn’t remember Peter’s mom. It could have been anyone at that party. Maybe she mistook him for someone else, maybe she completely made it up, maybe she was crazy, maybe… 

There were plenty of possibilities. 

Tony wasn’t ready to accept that Peter was his real, actual son. Not when his relationship with Pepper was going so good, not when he was dealing with the trauma of being back in New York again and his parents’ murder, not with the mess of the Accords, half the Avengers were god knows where… 

He felt his hands shaking and he put down his tools and leaned against the car he was working on. He pressed his hand to his chest and breathed deeply, trying to remember how to do it normally. 

“Boss, you’re showing symptoms of a panic attack,” FRIDAY chimed in unhelpfully.

“Oh really?” he asked sarcastically.

“Would you like me to contact Pepper upstairs?”

“No, no… I’m…” he heaved in a big breath. “I’m fine. It’s over. No need to worry her.” 

“Very well, Boss.” 

Tony slid to the floor and squeezed his eyes shut. It had been a while since he had a panic attack. Everything had been going much better, but he supposed it would never really be okay. 

This whole Peter mess was really not something he needed added to the steaming pile of shit that was his life currently. Maybe he should talk to someone… maybe he should tell Pepper…

But no. He couldn’t tell her that he had a child from a previous fling. Especially if he wasn’t certain. He couldn’t bring this up to her, but maybe Rhodey… 

But Rhodey was dealing with bigger problems. He was still adjusting to using bionic legs, and the psychosomatic pain that he was dealing with was much worse than Tony’s emotional baggage. He couldn’t complain about this to him when he had his own problems. 

Keep it inside, then.  _ There definitely won’t be any negative consequences to that, _ Tony reassured himself sarcastically.  _ Especially not with how well everything’s been going lately. _

But he pushed it aside. No use fretting over something now when he could just wait for it to blow up in his face later. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I tried to fit all of Homecoming in one chapter because I hate just regurgitating what already happened in the movie, but I ended up splitting it up into two because it was getting too long. So, hopefully it isn't too monotonous, only one more chapter of it, I swear, and then we get into the real meat of the story!


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony learns that he can't shake Peter off that easily.

It took all of a week for Tony to realize Peter had been pulling a long con on him and Happy and not laying low at all. 

After a week of pacing his room and pulling out his phone, hovering over the call button before he lost his nerve and re-pocketed it, Tony finally decided to call Peter up to officially congratulate him for his Washington DC heroics. He figured it was only fair. Peter had been doing what he was told and stepped up to the plate when he just so happened to be in the right pace at the right time to handle the perfect job for Spider-Man. And he did it successfully—everyone was okay. He deserved some praise so he would know he was being appreciated. Kids liked that kind of stuff.

At least that was Tony’s justification when he finally called Peter up shortly after school got out. He expected Peter to be ecstatic and thankful, not… distracted and annoyed? He claimed he was busy and quickly hung up. Tony stared at his phone in disbelief. He couldn’t believe he had nervously debated calling him all week just for him to brush him off. Was his hero status wearing off on Peter? Now that he was a bona fide hero himself, it was suddenly so passé to get a phone call from Iron Man himself? 

But something was  _ definitely _ fishy. He definitely wasn’t at band practice like he claimed. But if he wasn’t, where was he? 

The answer came not ten minutes later when a news alert pinged on his phone that a Staten Island Ferry had been split in  _ half _ . The very same ferry that Tony had organized an FBI sting to be on so he could finally take care of the pesky weapons dealers Peter had been so hellbent on finding himself. 

Tony leapt out of the backseat of his car. Happy shouted at his sudden retreat, but traffic was at a complete standstill and he ran safely to the sidewalk. He thrust his arm out and waited for his armor to come to him. Onlookers observed the spectacle with bewilderment as it all locked in place around his body. As soon as it was all done, he rocketed off.

It only took a few minutes for him to reach the ferry with a couple dozen backup thrusters to help him push the ferry back into position. He spotted Peter in his suit through the window.

“Oh hey, Spider-Man,” he drawled sarcastically. “Band practice, was it?” 

He resolutely ignored Peter as he flew around the ferry, stitching it back together like a torn shirt. Peter trailed behind him desperately, asking if there was anything he could do to help.

“I think you’ve done enough,” Tony finally responded when he was finished before flying away. Peter could find his own way off the ferry with the rest of the passengers he endangered: on a rescue boat. 

He flew around the area for a few minutes to blow off steam. He was so angry, he wasn’t sure if he’d ever been this angry in his life. He told Peter to stay out of trouble, multiple times, and he didn’t listen. He didn’t need to be worrying about this kid’s well being when he had enough on his plate. He didn’t ask for this responsibility. Sure, he was a result of Tony’s own irresponsibility, but he thinks he’s more than learned his lesson over the years. Hasn’t he atoned enough? Why did the world see fit to punish him even more for the mistakes of his past? 

He swallowed down the guilty bubble in his chest at the thought that Peter was a mistake or punishment. That wasn’t a very nice thing to think about a kid, especially since he knew Peter’s life hasn’t been easy either. Would it have been easier if he had raised him? 

He would have had more money, sure, but he would have also had a dysfunctional father and been exposed to the media from the beginning. He can’t imagine the speculations and drama that the tabloids would have cooked up surrounding his illegitimate birth. No, it was probably for the best that he had stayed far away from Tony up until this point. 

And Aunt May had wanted to keep it that way. What was he doing, letting the boy parade around the city in a suit of his own creation, encouraging his dangerous hobby, and keeping close tabs on him? He didn’t want to be his father, he didn’t even have permission to be his father, so why was he going behind May’s back and acting like he had the right to do any of this? 

This had to stop. If anything was made clear by this incident, this had to stop. He thought that Peter could be responsible, that he could handle the suit, that he would stick to what he was doing before, but he should have known that bigger guns meant bigger stakes. Tony had been proud of what Peter did in DC, but it wasn’t going to end there. Peter would keep pushing the limits until Tony cut off his access. He was all too familiar with that particular trait. 

He circled back to the edge of the water. He spotted Peter sitting on the top of a high building, mask off and staring down at the emergency vehicles. He swooped in behind him and hovered a few feet from the surface.

“Previously on Peter screws the pooch,” he defaulted to his joking demeanor. “I told you to stay away from this, instead you hacked a multimillion dollar suit so you could sneak around behind my back doing the  _ one _ thing I told you not to do.” 

Peter wouldn’t even look at him. “Is everyone okay?” 

“No thanks to you,” he punctuated with as much venom as he could.

Peter finally turned around. He looked utterly  _ pissed _ . Tony could almost laugh.  _ He _ was the one that was angry? 

He slowly lowered himself as Peter spun around and walked toward him, spouting his useless argument about how Tony didn’t listen to  _ him. _

“If you even cared, you would actually be here right now,” Peter spit with icy eyes and squared shoulders. 

Okay, no. He was  _ not _ talking to Tony like this when all he’s done for the past week was worry over Peter. 

Without hesitating, he opened up the suit and stepped out, staring Peter down challengingly. His cocky, self-righteous posture immediately disappeared and instead he looked at Tony wide-eyed and scrambling backwards like the scared little kid he really was. 

“I did listen, kid. Who do you think called the FBI, huh?” he asked. “Do you know that I was the  _ only _ one who believed in you? Everyone else said I was  _ crazy _ to recruit a  _ fourteen year old kid.” _

And they were right. He was crazy to think this could have worked. He should never have entangled himself in Peter’s life.

“I’m fifteen,” Peter responded, as if that made everything okay. 

“No, this is where you zip it! The adult is talking!” Tony raised his voice, losing his usually cool exterior. Peter had that effect on him. “What if somebody had died tonight? Different story, right? Because that’s on  _ you. _ ”

Tony paused. 

“And if you died… I feel like that’s on me.” 

It was true. Tony barely allowed himself to think of an alternative to any of the situations Peter had been put in recently. Germany had resulted in Rhodey losing his legs. Something like that or worse could have easily happened to Peter—he was far less experienced than anyone else in that fight. The close call he had in the Hudson… if Tony hadn’t had that tracker in his suit, or his service had been down, Peter would have been toast. As proud as he had been over his heroics in DC, that could’ve easily been a disaster. And now this. It was too much. Tony was putting too much risk on someone that he had no right to make that call on. 

“I’m sorry, Mr. Stark,” Peter tried. “I’m sorry.” 

“Sorry doesn’t cut it,” Tony replied truthfully. 

“I know, I just…” Peter paused. “I just wanted to be like you.” 

Tony felt his blood run cold. The last thing he needed was for the kid to look up to him. He was the worst role model he could have chosen, and he didn’t even realize how much he already took after him. 

“And I wanted you to be better,” he responded without hesitation. 

It was bad enough that Peter was cursed with Stark genes. He remembered his conversation with May, how she said that she was starting to see how much Peter took after him. He could see it now, too. The drive to prove himself, the lack of self-preservation, the desperation to become someone that mattered. But the kid didn’t even see that he had so much more to offer to the world than trying to be the next best superhero. 

To a kid who had been gifted with powers, yeah sure it probably seemed like a dream come true. They were all over the news with their fancy suits and cool abilities—it was a childhood fantasy. But he couldn’t predict yet what would happen next. Especially with the heavy hand of the Accords weighing down on them, he didn’t see the negative impact of the life of a superhero. The lives of all the people he couldn’t save would always be a burden on his heart, the hate of the general public who thought they were reckless monsters, the secrecy, the danger he would always put his loved ones in, the exhaustion of leading two lives, the constant self-doubt. Peter couldn’t see all that now, but he would feel it later, and he would regret it. Tony could save him from that.

“Okay, this isn’t working out, I’m going to need the suit back.”

 

* * *

 

 

Tony impressed himself and made it all the way back to the mansion before having a panic attack. He walked inside and threw the spider suit across the foyer before collapsing to the ground and gasping for air. The Iron Man suit retreated around his frame as Pepper came running towards him. 

“Oh my god! What happened!?” she shouted, kneeling down next to him and rubbing his back. “Are you hurt? Are you okay?” 

“I’m fine,” he gritted out, heaving lungfuls of air as he got himself back under control. 

“No you’re not!” Pepper cried. “You keep saying you are and you’re  _ not! _ What’s going on? You need to talk to me. You’ve been worse lately and don’t think I haven’t noticed. Is it about the Accords? Are you having nightmares again? _ Please, _ you need to  _ talk _ to me.” 

Tony looked up at her and her eyes looked desperate. The guilt he felt about Peter increased tenfold when he realized it’d been affecting her too. He’d been keeping secrets from her, and that wasn’t something he should be doing to the woman he loved. He couldn’t afford to lose her again. 

“S-sit,” Tony gasped, and Pepper understood. Gently, she grabbed him by the arm and helped him up, walking him over to the couch. 

“I… I haven’t been totally honest with you lately,” he began when they were both sitting comfortably and he finally got his breathing under control again. “And I’m sorry. I should have told you when I first found out, but I was scared. I wasn’t ready to deal with it yet and I thought if I kept it to myself, then it wouldn’t be real. But it’s real and I have to face it.” 

Pepper stared at him with concern but didn’t say anything. She knew when to patiently wait for Tony to work up the courage to admit something. She had known him for long enough. 

“You remember the spider kid I told you about?” 

“Spider-Man? Yeah?” 

“Yeah, well definitely more of a kid. He’s fifteen years old.” 

_ “What? _ Tony, oh my god, he’s a baby! And he’s  _ fighting—” _

“Shh, Pep. Let me finish, please.” 

She pursed her lips, nodding. 

“Well… he lives in Queens with his aunt, and I met with her. Kind of lied to her about what I was getting him into, may have told her it was an internship with Stark Industries, all details. But she was less than pleased to see me. At first I thought it was because of all the bad press Iron Man had been getting lately, but then she told me—” 

He faltered, and Pepper put her hand on his shoulder to encourage him to continue. He lowered his head and closed his eyes.

“And this is where I’m going to need you to bear with me, please. I know this is a lot to take in, but she told me that he’s… my biological son.” 

He didn’t hear a response, so he looked up at Pepper. She was staring at the ground blankly. 

“Pepper? Please, give me something?” 

“I—” she opened her mouth, blinking. “I definitely wasn’t expecting you to say that.”

“Trust me, I didn’t expect it either.”

Pepper shook her head in disbelief. “I guess… I always toyed with the possibility that maybe there was someone out there? I mean, I knew about your past getting into this relationship. But still…” 

She floundered, shaking her head and looking back up at him. 

“Are you mad?” he asked.

“No,” she responded. “Just very confused… the mother?” 

“Dead,” he replied, feeling secretly relieved Pepper wasn’t immediately walking out on him. “Died when he was five years old. Same with his stepfather. He’s been living with his aunt and uncle since, but his uncle recently passed away as well.” 

“And you didn’t know about this?” she asked. 

Tony shook his head. “I wish I could say I even remember who she was. I never got news of it. His aunt told me she tried to reach out to me, but I’m pretty sure Obadiah put a stop to that correspondence before it reached me, the bastard. Would have been nice to know all these years. He’s still messing with me, even after death.” 

“Oh honey, I’m so sorry,” she rubbed his shoulder soothingly, then brought him in for a hug. 

Tony leaned against her and closed his eyes. He didn’t feel like he deserved comfort from her right now, but he needed it. He expected her to be furious, but of course she was always endlessly supportive. 

“This isn’t your fault, you know,” Pepper whispered. “You should have come to me about this sooner.” 

“I thought you would hate me,” he admitted. 

She separated the hug and looked him square in the eyes. “Of course not. We’ve been through too much together for this to even phase me.” 

He huffed out a laugh. He was lucky that he found the only woman in the world tough enough to handle all his bullshit. 

“How do you know he’s really your son?” she asked.

He shrugged. “I guess I don’t, really. We could do a DNA test to confirm it, but his aunt was adamant that he not know. Can’t do one without his consent, so I just have to believe her. And… to be honest, I kind of see it. I mean, he  _ is _ running around New York at age fifteen in spandex, shooting webs and flying from building to building.” 

“Oh god,” Pepper covered her eyes. “That  _ does _ sound like you. So what are you going to do now?” 

He shrugged again. “Keep my distance, I guess. I tried to do the whole ‘secretly mentor him without his aunt knowing’ thing, but that kind of blew up in my face.” He nodded to the crumpled up suit still visible on the floor of the foyer. “So I took the suit back. No more high-powered weapons for him. I thought that maybe I could try my hand at being responsible for him, but I was wrong. The best thing I can do is respect his aunt’s wishes and leave him alone. She was right, she’s more of a parent to him than I could ever be.” 

Pepper nodded. “I’m proud of you, Tony. That must have been really hard.”

Tony didn’t respond. Instead he looked down at his hands. They were shaking. 

“What’s his name?” Pepper asked.

“Peter,” Tony said quietly. “Peter Parker.” 

 

* * *

 

That had been that. Tony felt a lot better after Pepper knew, like a weight had been lifted off his chest. He still hadn’t told anyone else, but just having her support and understanding was enough. Besides, he was done monitoring Peter. No one else had to know. 

Rhodey came over to visit so Tony could check up on his progress with the new legs and check for any bugs. So far, his friend had been adapting very quickly to them and he was pleased. He should never have doubted Rhodey’s ability to bounce back from any hardship. He was resilient like that, unlike Tony. 

“So, how are you and Pepper doing?” he asked, sitting on the couch with a bottle of beer while Tony kneeled on the floor and tinkered with his outstretched legs. 

“Good, great,” Tony responded. “Back together and stronger than ever.” 

“I’m glad to hear that,” Rhodey smiled. “You two are good for each other. You balance each other out.” 

“Yes, Pepper is the sanity to my crazy, and I am the fun to her boring.” 

Rhodey laughed and turned on the TV, flipping to a sports channel. They sat in silence for a while, with Rhodey watching football and Tony working. Tony hummed a little bit while he did and when he was satisfied, he stood up and clapped his hands, heading to the kitchen for a snack. 

When he plopped back down on the couch with some popcorn in a bowl, Rhodey smirked at him. 

“You seem better.” 

“Hm?” 

Rhodey gestured to him. “You seem a lot happier. You’ve been worrying me lately, but you’re in a really good mood today. I’m glad.” 

“Oh well, you know,” Tony shrugged. “Got some things off my chest, resolved some issues.”

“Regarding Steve?” 

Tony’s good mood immediately soured. That was still a sore spot for him, although he was doing his best to put it behind him. 

“Man, I’m sorry,” Rhodey immediately apologized, noticing his change in demeanour. “I thought—”

“No, it’s fine,” Tony cut him off. It wasn’t Rhodey’s fault. “Not that, but I’m getting there.” 

“Well, that’s good,” Rhodey said. “Like I said, I’m happy for you. It’s good to get the old Tony back.” 

Tony wasn’t sure if he was back to being the old Tony. He felt like a new, completely different Tony. One that had just been made aware of even more lies that he had been lead to believe over the course of his life. In the span of a month, he found out his parents were killed by his teammate’s old war buddy, he discovered which of his friends were real friends, and he learned that he had a fifteen year old son that he never knew about. He definitely didn’t feel the same as before. 

“Yeah,” he agreed. “It’s good to be back.”

 

* * *

 

 

Tony honestly shouldn’t have even been surprised anymore, but it still caught him off guard when he received the call from Happy late at night.

“Boss, I think you better come down to Coney Island.” 

“What? Happy, do you even realize what time it is? Me and Pepper are kind of having a date night here.” 

Pepper looked at him questioningly and he held his finger up. 

“I think you’re going to want to see this,” is all Happy said. 

The two went down together to see what all the fuss was about. His heart immediately sank when he noticed the plumes of smoke drifting up into the sky. As they got closer, they saw the fiery remains of what was once a state of the art Stark jet with millions of dollars worth of equipment inside.

He ran up to Happy where he saw him holding a clipboard and writing things down, probably taking note of all the damage.

_ “What happened?” _ he hissed. 

Happy looked up with wide eyes and took a few steps back. “Woah, boss, this was not me. Look.”

He gestured to the side and Tony followed the direction he was pointing to. He immediately noticed several police officers attempting to cut a man out of webs trapping him against a piece of metal. 

_ Well, shit. _

He pushed past Happy and sped over. The police officers saw him and backed off momentarily. The man in the webs looked up at him lazily with a defiant gleam in his eyes, but Tony ignored him. Instead, his eyes were glued on the note left attached next to him. 

_ Found: Flying Vulture Guy – Spider-Man (Sorry about your plane) _

Tony shook his head. Of course. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And thus concludes the Homecoming arc! Everything from here on out will be uncharted territory. :)


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Three phone calls, one resolution.

Peter had turned down the opportunity to become an Avenger. Tony was impressed. 

It was probably for the best, because his plan was half-baked at best. He had to be honest though, he was kind of excited about the prospect of Peter having a room at the compound. Not to stay permanently, of course, but Tony was so much farther away from New York now and seeing the kid would be so much harder. It would have been a good place for him to stay for weekend visits and such.

So much for keeping his distance. 

But if there was anything good to come out of it, then it was the sparkly ring resting on Pepper’s finger. He finally did it. He had been thinking about it for a long time but never quite knew when to pop the question. But after their break, he learned there was never going to be a right time and he just had to do it before she left again. And she had said yes. In her own way, of course. The same way that he proposed in his own way. 

He looked down at his phone when it started buzzing on his lab table. The caller ID read “Scary Aunt,” which he set May’s number to after her first phone call. 

“Hello?” he greeted as he answered the call. 

“What the  _ fuck _ is wrong with you?” she screeched on the other end. 

Oh god, not again. 

“Is this going to become a pattern?” he asked. 

“As long as you make it a pattern to  _ go behind my back and interfere with Peter’s life!”  _

He could hear Peter in the background shouting,  _ May please, calm down! Let me explain! Mr. Stark, I’m sorry!  _

“What did I do this time?”

“Um, does  _ keeping the fact that my nephew is Spider-Man from me and sneaking around giving him weaponized suits _ ring a bell!?” 

Tony’s mouth felt dry. Oh god. He dropped that bag off this morning, how did May already find it? 

“Suddenly speechless?” May hissed. “He’s fifteen years old! How could you do this? Especially after our conversation. I thought you understood! But of course, I never should have trusted Tony Stark.” 

Tony felt a pang in his heart at her words, but he let them keep coming. She was right. 

“You know, I was starting to think that maybe they were wrong about you. Maybe he isn’t the irresponsible narcissist that all the news outlets paint him to be. But now I see they were all right.” 

Tony squeezed his eyes shut. He screwed up. He screwed up  _ badly.  _

“Don’t you  _ ever _ come near Peter again. I’m sending the suit back.”

With that, she hung up. Tony flinched at the dial tone and slowly lowered his phone. He deserved that. He stared at the project in front of him, suddenly lacking motivation. He stayed there until Pepper walked into the room. 

“Hey, honey, want to get some lunch?” she asked, then noticed his expression. “What’s wrong?” 

“May just called,” Tony explained, eyes still lost staring at nothing. “Peter’s aunt, she found out about Spider-Man.” 

“Oh god,” Pepper covered her mouth with her hands. “Was she mad?”

Tony laughed. That was an understatement. “She said I am never allowed to see Peter again.” 

Pepper looked sympathetic. “Oh, Tony… I’m so sorry. That’s probably for the best though, right? Didn’t you want to keep your distance anyways? At least now his aunt knows about his powers, so you don’t have to worry about him anymore.” 

“Yeah,” Tony responded. She was right, this is what he wanted anyways. That didn’t make him feel any better.

 

* * *

 

Tony went about his life after that and tried to put the incident past him. May’s words kept echoing in his head, despite his best efforts to silence them. It was as if every one of his insecurities were thrown back at him in the worst possible way. 

How pathetic was he, that he couldn’t even be trusted to  _ come in contact _ with a kid he had put into this world? He could create artificial intelligence, design state-of-the-art technology, become an expert in any given scientific field overnight, run a multi-billion dollar company, and save the world multiple times, but he couldn’t raise a kid.

Tony Stark’s ultimate downfall: being an actual human being.

He knew it, had known it all along, but it still stung. Peter was the last person who deserved a deadbeat, absent father. He was brilliant, optimistic despite everything that’s happened to him, and he shined so bright that he spread his infectious happiness to everyone around him. When Tony thought about it, maybe he wasn’t his son after all. There was no way he could ever create anything so perfect. 

A week later, he got a package in the mail. He opened it, and inside was the Spider-Man suit. He stared at it in his hands for a while, and Happy came over to see what he was looking at. 

“What’s that? Needs repairs?” he asked casually. 

“No,” Tony replied distractedly, stuffing it back in the box. “Put this somewhere for me, will you? Somewhere I won’t see it.” 

He tossed it to Happy and walked out of the room, the other man staring at him in confusion. 

He buried himself in his lab for the rest of the day, much to the silent frustration of Pepper. The Iron Spider suit was still in there, where it had stayed after Peter turned it down. Tony did his best to not look at it for a while, but he got tired of pretending it wasn’t there and ordered FRIDAY to conceal it. He would have to figure out where to store that later, as well. He could add it to the growing list of inventions he made for people who weren’t around anymore.

 

* * *

 

Two weeks after May had called him, he received another phone call, this time from Peter. He definitely hadn’t been expecting that. He stared at his phone with wide eyes for a few seconds, debating whether or not he should answer it, before hesitantly picking up. 

“Hello?” 

“Mr. Stark, thank god, I was nervous you wouldn’t pick up,” Peter’s relieved voice was surprisingly pleasant to hear after so long. 

“And what is the reason for this call?” Tony asked. “I’m pretty sure we’re going against your aunt’s wishes right now.” 

“I know,” Peter sighed. “I’m sorry about that. She can be pretty… protective. She grounded me for  _ two weeks, _ I only just got my phone back, or else I would have called you sooner. I just wanted to apologize for… all of that.”

“It’s okay,” Tony chewed his lip. It had been bad but it was probably for the best. Tony didn’t trust himself to be a responsible adult, and Peter deserved that. 

_ “And,” _ Peter continued, drawing out the vowel. “I still want to stay in touch. It will be more tricky now that May is onto me, but I think we can still make it work. I know she can be intense, but I still want to be Spider-Man, and—” 

“Woah, woah, woah,” Tony cut him off. “Slow down, cowboy. I actually agree with your aunt here, I think maybe you should listen to her.” 

There was silence on the other end for a few moments, all that could be heard was the faint white noise. 

“Wait…  _ what?” _ Peter’s voice sounded incredulous. 

“May was right, kid. I’m just trying to be responsible here. She’s your guardian, and if she says no, then the answer is no. I’m not going behind her back anymore. I think maybe you should try laying low.” 

_ “Are you kidding me?” _ The anger in Peter’s voice was palpable even over the phone. 

“No, Peter,” Tony sighed. “Look, I’ve honestly messed up. I’m just trying to do the right thing.”

“Okay… so first you bring me to Germany to fight the Avengers, and then when I want to join the team you tell me to be a ‘friendly neighborhood Spider-Man’, then you offer me a spot on the Avengers, then you tell me to  _ stop being Spider-Man?  _ I’m sorry, I’m just a little confused. What do you  _ want _ from me?” 

“Hey, hey,” Tony backtracked. “Calm down.” 

“No, don’t tell me to calm down!” Peter cried. “You can’t do this to me, Mr. Stark! I thought you understood! I  _ need _ to do this! I hate being a kid, no one ever listens to me! Now you, too? I thought I proved myself to you!” 

“Peter, listen,” Tony said desperately. “All I’m saying is I think you need to sort things out with your aunt.” 

“She’ll never let me do this!” Peter whined. 

“Then I’m sorry, I can’t help you,” Tony replied solemnly. His heart was breaking at the sound of Peter’s voice, but he couldn’t drag himself into this again. It was for the best, even if Peter didn’t realize it. 

“Why are you suddenly so adamant about listening to Aunt May?” Peter asked bitterly. “It didn’t stop you before.” 

_ That was when things were different, _ Tony thought to himself. 

“Hmm, probably when she called me on the phone to scream at me,” he responded. “Peter, I’m sorry, I wish I could help you, but your aunt is your guardian. If she says no, there’s nothing I can do. I was being irresponsible before, I’m just trying to make up for that now.” 

“Bullshit,” Peter mumbled, and then he hung up. 

Tony pulled the phone away from his ear and bent his head. The last thing he wanted was for Peter to be mad at him, but if it kept him away, then maybe it was for the best. Tony couldn’t allow himself to go back to sneaking around to see Peter. It would just end in disaster again, no matter how tempting it was to help the kid out. Even without seeing his big brown eyes, he was difficult to say no to.

 

* * *

 

He thought that was the end of that, he had made himself pretty clear on the phone, but he shouldn’t have misjudged Peter’s determination when he showed up at the compound that weekend.

“Peter, how—?” he rubbed his eyes in exhaustion. 

“I took an uber,” Peter explained, walking past Tony. “I told May I was working on a group project.” 

“Of course,” Tony sighed, closing the door and turning to face Peter. “I can expense that for you.” 

“I’m here for the suit,” Peter got straight to the point. 

“Peter—” 

“Look, you don’t have to help me if you don’t want to, but I’m not going to stop being Spider-Man.” 

“It’s not that I don’t  _ want _ to help you, it’s that I  _ can’t,” _ Tony explained. “Your aunt is still in charge here.” 

“Well, that didn’t stop you from taking me to Germany,” Peter scoffed. “Can I please have the suit?” 

“No.” 

_ “Please?” _ Peter begged, stepping forward. His face was a picture of desperation.

“I said no.”

“Come on, it’s my suit!” Peter whined. 

“Uh, no, it’s not your suit,” Tony made a face. “It’s actually  _ my _ suit. I made it. I paid for it. My suit.”

Peter looked devastated. “But you made it for me. I don’t understand, why won’t you just let me have it? I already told you, you don’t have to get involved—”

“Peter, your aunt gave me the suit because she didn’t want you to have it. If I give it back to you, that’s getting involved.”

“But she doesn’t have to know!” 

“Peter,” Tony rubbed the bridge of his nose. Teenagers were relentless. “That’s what you said last time, and she still found out. I know you have good intentions, but I’m done. I’m not coming in the middle of you and your aunt again.” 

Peter looked longingly at Tony, as if he stared at him long enough, he could change his mind. 

“I’m sorry you came all the way up here for nothing,” Tony said. “You can stay for dinner if you’d like, but unless you get expressed approval from your aunt, there’s nothing I can do.” 

Peter’s eyes watered and he looked away. Tony could see his jaw working, but he didn’t say anything. 

“Peter…” 

“Forget it,” Peter finally huffed, walking past Tony again. “This was a waste of time.” 

He opened the front door and paused. 

“You know, I thought after the first time you took my suit, I proved to you that I could be a superhero. I thought that meant something. But apparently, I’m still just a stupid kid to you.” 

He slammed the door behind him before Tony could say anything in return. He considered running out after him to get the last word, but thought better of it. There was nothing to say, after all. Peter was wrong, he didn’t think he was a stupid kid. But what could he say to him to make him believe him? He was in further over his head than Peter could understand. 

 

* * *

 

Tony sat in his lab, leaning back in his chair and incessantly clicking a pen. He stared at the wall deep in thought, Peter’s last words to him echoing in his head. 

He didn’t want Peter to think that’s all he was to him, but what could he do? Besides, Peter had clearly been uninterested in talking to him once he made it clear that he wasn’t going to give him the suit. Now that he thought about it, did Peter even like him at all? Or was he just dazzled by the fancy trips and high tech gear and once that was stripped away, Tony as a person was less appealing to him.

No, he couldn’t allow himself to think that way. His therapist had specifically told him to stop practicing self loathing. Peter was just an upset teenager, nothing more. He would come back around as soon as… 

His phone buzzed on the table and he looked down at it, breaking from his trance. It was from May. He dreaded picking it up, knowing how his conversations with her typically seemed to go. 

“Hello?” He hesitantly answered. “Look, if this is about—”

“Peter went out as Spider-Man again.” 

Tony paused. “...What?”  _ Did Peter somehow steal his suit back? That was impossible… _ “I didn’t give him the suit back, May, I swear. He must’ve…” 

“No,” May stopped him. “In his old suit.” 

Tony froze.  _ That  _ thing again? “Oh god… that suit is terrible…” 

“Yeah, well obviously, since he got hurt in it,” May added. 

Tony felt fear freeze the blood in his veins. “Oh no… how bad?” 

“His wrist, I think it’s broken. I’m at the hospital with him now. He tried to hide it from me, I didn’t notice for an  _ hour.” _

Without the safety measures of the high-tech suit, Tony wasn’t able to receive alerts when Peter was hurt. He would have been able to help him with it right away. 

“Oh god, May, I’m so sorry. I swear, I had nothing to do with this. I tried to talk him out of it—”

“I’m not mad at you,” she interrupted him quietly. 

Tony blinked and remained quiet, waiting for her to continue. 

“I guess... I just wanted to call to say I’m sorry. I’ve been really hard on you but I know you must care about Peter too. In your own way.” 

May paused. 

“It hasn’t been easy to raise a teenager by myself. And it’s even harder now that I know my teenager has superhuman abilities. There’s not exactly a manual for this. I just… I thought I could talk him out of it, but he’s really determined to keep doing this.” 

“It was really hard for me to keep him in line, too,” Tony explained, not sure if it would help or not. “I thought keeping tabs on him would help, but when he started getting in over his head I took the suit away from him. I thought that would be enough to make him stop. But he went back to fighting with the old suit then too. That kid doesn’t quit.” 

May laughed. It was half amused, half devastated. “No, he does not.” 

“But he’s strong. And he’s brave. And he’s really  _ good,  _ May. Maybe one of the most genuinely good people I’ve ever met.” 

“Yeah, he’s… he’s a good kid.”

She paused for a moment, considering her words.

“He… he witnessed his uncle get shot,” she finally said. “Six months ago, when he was mugged, Peter… Peter was there. I think he blames himself. He won’t talk about it, but he’s never been the same after that.” 

Tony closed his eyes. A flashback to his conversation with Peter before Germany played in his mind.  _ When you can do what I do, but you don’t, and then the bad things happen… they happen because of you.  _

“I don’t want to lose Peter,” May continued. “I’m so terrified of losing him. I’ve already lost my husband. But I think… I can’t stop him from being what he wants to be. He’ll find a way, and if I try to hold him back, then I’ll lose him for sure.” 

May sighed, loud and long on the other end. Tony knew this was painful for her to admit. It was painful for him, as well. They both just wanted to see Peter be safe, but he seemed determined to give them both constant anxiety. 

“I was terrified that you would take him away from me too. I guess that’s why I was so harsh when I first met you. I was scared. I love Peter, I’ll do anything to protect him, but I don’t know how to protect him from this.” 

May sounded so tired, but determined. She had the quiet kind of strength of a mother who has seen her child go through too much and would do anything to make sure he stayed safe, even if it meant giving up her own comfort and happiness. 

“I guess I’m calling you because… I was wrong. And I’m sorry. Perhaps I misjudged you after all. I was wondering if maybe we could meet up to talk again?” 

Tony smiled, a small seed of hope unfurling inside of him for the first time since May told him the truth. He didn’t dare allow it to grow any further, but there it was.

“Sure,” he replied. “But only if you promise you won’t yell at me this time.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> These take me so long to write and they're all like 10 pages long but then when I post them they look so short... 
> 
> Also, reminder that this fic has a playlist: https://open.spotify.com/user/85q3bgs309hbhpk3gy05kzr4w/playlist/0t231uZBFsORBFTHmF0JzG
> 
> A lot of the songs will probably start making more sense as the fic goes on.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony makes an important decision.

May gripped the handle of her tea cup tightly, her brow furrowed. An awkward silence passed between the two at the table as they internally debated how to begin the conversation.

“So…” May began finally. “We’re back here again.”

Tony let out a dry laugh. He remembered all too well the last time he was here, and not fondly. The photographs of Peter around the house still seemed to glare at him accusingly.

“So, what are we going to do?” he asked. It was best to let May take the steering wheel rather than say something that would set her off again. He had to admit, he was a little intimidated by her.

May sighed. “I don’t know. I keep going back and forth in my mind. I feel like letting Peter be Spider-Man is irresponsible, but… at the same time, I keep thinking about how swollen his arm was by the time I finally noticed it. He hid it under his sweatshirt, he didn’t want me to know. I don’t _ever_ want him to think he can’t come to me about these things. Even though I’m _very_ against this decision, I just want him to be safe. I don’t think taking his phone away every time is going to do anything.”

Tony could sympathize. “Well, taking his suit away is definitely ineffective.”

May put her face in her hands and groaned. “I know. I feel so stupid. I can’t believe this whole thing has been going on behind my back for almost a whole year and I had no idea.”

“Hey, hey,” Tony said gently. “It’s okay.”

“And how did _you_ find out before _me?”_

Tony froze. “I, uh…”

May squinted her eyes in suspicion.

“Well, I kind of knew about it before I even met him.”

_“What?”_

Tony could feel sweat start to appear on his forehead. “Yeah well, you know, when I heard there was a superhero running around Queens, I had him tagged. It was pretty easy to figure out his identity… I mean, with my technology, I’m sure no one else would be able to figure it out. Peter is safe. But yeah, I’ve been keeping an eye on him for a while.”

“So, when you came to our apartment…” May asked.

“That was for Spider-Man, not Peter Parker, yeah.”

May looked incredulous. Tony could see her piecing everything together in her mind. Peter going on a trip with him to Germany, Spider-Man appearing in Germany to help Iron Man… he held his breath.

_“So you mean you took him to Germany to fight war criminals!?”_

There it was.

“Wait, I know it sounds worse than it is. But trust me, I had it all under control. He was ordered to keep his distance and I was closely monitoring him–”

“So you trusted a _teenager_ to do what you said!? You really brought a teenager to take on Captain America and… and… his assassin friend!?”

Tony raised his hands in surrender. “I remember you promising not to yell at me. I distinctly remember that being a promise that you made.”

“That was different!” May screeched. “That was… that was…”

She trailed off and put her hands on the sides of her face. “Oh my god. Oooooh my god…”

“May,” Tony pleaded. “Please, everything is fine. I promise I won’t do that again.”

“Like _hell_ you won’t!” May snapped. “From now on, I have to know about _everything_ Peter is up to! I can’t have you sneaking behind my back like that! I’ve worked too hard and I care about Peter too much for this to be happening! If he had gotten hurt…”

May trailed off again, but Tony understood. _I would have never forgiven myself._ He thought about that a lot too. There had been too many close calls with Peter for him to be comfortable with. He forgot that he wouldn’t be the only one sharing the burden.

“I’m sorry, May.”

And he meant it. He hadn’t thought about how she would feel. All he thought about was her getting mad at him, but he hadn’t considered how devastated she would be about Peter. Her anger hid her true fear. She had raised him, and if anything happened to him, she would be completely alone. He knew how that felt, and he didn’t wish it upon anyone.

May sighed. It was a deep, resigned sigh.

“I’m just trying to do what’s best for Peter,” she murmured quietly. “But I don’t even know what that is anymore.”

“Are you going to let him have the suit back?” Tony asked, because that’s why he was here.

May didn’t respond for a while. Slowly, she nodded. She looked back up at him with wide, fearful eyes. “How do I know if I’m doing the right thing?”

“You’re asking the wrong person,” Tony replied honestly.

“I just… I just can’t help but feel like this is my fault,” May admitted. “Did I do something to make him feel like he had to do this? Did I not give him enough support?”

“This has nothing to do with you,” Tony promised. “You’ve been a great parent for him. This is about him. He needs to do this.”

May laughed humorlessly. “Just another Stark gene I’ll never understand, I guess.”

And there it was. The reminder that Peter was Tony’s son.

He coughed and nodded stiffly. “Yeah, well… I don’t entirely understand it either.”

May averted her eyes, sensing his discomfort.

“Look, I… uh,” Tony faltered. “I just wanted to let you know… I know you’re mad at me, and you have every right to be. But for what it’s worth… I honestly didn’t know about him. And not in the ‘I forgot because I have so many scandals’ way,” he added quickly before May could open her mouth. “It’s a lot more complicated than that.”

May, thankfully, looked curious instead of angry. She didn’t say anything and Tony continued.

“Before… Afghanistan… Stark Industries was co-run by myself and my dad’s business partner, Obadiah Stane. He was kind of a father figure for me after my parents… well, you know. I was a bit more reckless back then. I know, hard to believe. So really, he ran a lot of the company while I acted as the figurehead. I trusted that he was running everything accordingly, but after I shut down the weapons manufacturing division and built Iron Man… well, it became apparent that he wasn’t who I thought he was.”

He paused and looked back up at May. She nodded like she understood. Of course, Obadiah’s death had been all over the news, as well as everything surrounding it.

“He kept a lot of things from me. He tried to squeeze me out of my own company, kill me, anything he needed to do to make sure the company stayed in his hands. But he still needed me to have a good reputation. As the figurehead of the company, I was much more valuable if I died a tragic victim, which is what he tried to arrange. He couldn’t have news outlets going to town on Stark Industries’ ‘golden child’. He tried really hard to keep me from doing anything too stupid, which trust me… it was a real headache for him. But I never thought…”

He choked, and to his surprise May actually reached for his hand. He squeezed it gratefully.

“I never thought he would keep something like this from me. I swear, May, I didn’t send those lawyers to Mary. I had no idea. Obadiah must have intercepted the correspondence… I would have never ignored her like that.”

May’s eyes welled with tears. “I’m so sorry… I didn’t realize.”

“It’s fine,” Tony responded automatically.

“No, it’s not. How can someone do that?” May asked. “You deserved to know.”

“Yeah, well,” Tony shrugged. “I think he ended up in better hands anyways.”

May smiled sadly. Before the conversation could continue, he slipped his hand away from hers and reached for the bag he left at his feet. He placed it on the table.

“This is the suit,” he explained. “If you want it back.”

May nodded. “Thank you. I’ll give it back to him. He’ll be very excited.”

“Great.” Tony stood up. “Well then, I should get going.”

“Wait,” May said quickly. “Do you want to talk about…? I know what I said before, but… if you want to spend time with Peter, that’s okay. It’s hard doing this alone, and you understand Spider-Man better than I do. Maybe we could…”

Tony nodded. “I’ll keep an eye on him,” he promised.

“Thank you, Tony,” May said gratefully.

Tony nodded again, uttered a quick goodbye, and hastily walked out the door before anything else could be said.

 

* * *

 

The next day, Tony was in the kitchen preparing himself an espresso after a restless night when FRIDAY spoke up.

“Boss, Happy is requesting your presence in the foyer.”

Tony rolled his eyes. “What is it this time? Does he want to talk to me about _another_ promotion?”

“No, you have a visitor.”

Tony put his cup down and cocked his head. He wasn’t expecting any visitors.

“Who is it?”

“Peter Parker,” FRIDAY responded matter-of-factly.

Tony lowered his head. Of course.

He strolled down to the foyer to find Peter chatting Happy’s ear off about nothing in particular. The second he came into view, Peter perked up and his sentence trailed off. Happy looked relieved. Tony noticed the cast on the kid’s arm, already decorated with signatures.

“Mr. Stark!” he exclaimed.

“Hey kid, I wasn’t expecting you,” Tony responded.

“I know, sorry, I just wanted to say thank you in person,” Peter grinned.

“For what?”

“For the suit!” Peter replied. “Aunt May gave it back to me! She told me you guys talked. Thank you so much, Mr. Stark. It really means a lot to me.”

Tony sniffed. “It was nothing, kid. Mostly her idea. I was just the delivery man.”

“Yeah, I’m sure you had nothing else to do with it,” Peter smirked knowingly. Had May told him about their conversation? She certainly hadn’t told him the last part. Peter still didn’t know he was his father, and that made a pit form in his stomach. It was getting harder and harder to justify him not knowing.

“Is that all you came down here for, kid? That’s an awful long drive just to say thank you.”

Peter smiled sheepishly. “Yeah, well, I also came to apologize.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah, for what I said last week,” Peter shrugged. “It wasn’t nice. I shouldn’t have said that, I know you were just trying to be a responsible adult. It’s just hard being a kid sometimes, so I got frustrated and said something I didn’t mean.”

If it was possible, Tony felt even more guilty. Here Peter was apologizing for an offhand comment while Tony was lying to him about his whole life.

“So you don’t _really_ think that I only think of you as some stupid kid?” Tony asked, despite himself.

Peter shook his head. “No, I’m sorry.”

Tony let out a dramatic puff of air. “Well, hate to break it to you…”

Peter laughed. “Shut up!”

The tension gone, Tony finally walked over to Peter and cuffed him on the back of the head. It was better to keep it lighthearted for now, until he figured something out.

“Okay, is that all?”

“Well, I felt like I should say it in person and not over the phone,” Peter shrugged. “I wanted you to know that I meant it.”

“Well I appreciate it. Just let me know next time you want to come up and I’ll send Happy to come get you. Seriously, stop spending money on those Ubers.”

Happy shot him an annoyed look over his shoulder but he ignored him, wrapping his arm around Peter and dragging him back to the kitchen.

“Anyways, if you came all the way up here, there’s no point going all the way back just yet. Would you like to help me in my lab for a bit?”

Peter’s eyes lit up like a kid on Christmas. “Seriously? That would be amazing!”

Tony smirked. “Alright then. Let me just grab my coffee and we can head down.”

Before they could go to the lab, however, they were intercepted by Pepper in the kitchen. She had her arms crossed and she was giving Tony a look that made him sweat, but Peter didn’t seem to notice.

“Oh my god, Pepper Potts! It’s… it’s so nice to meet you. You’re even prettier in person. I mean… oh god, did I say that out loud?”

Pepper turned her gaze away from Tony to smile down at Peter. “Aw, thanks, sweetie. You must be Peter. Tony’s told you so much about you.”

Tony didn’t think it was possible, but Peter’s face turned even redder. “R-Really? Like, what kind of things? Good things?”

Pepper laughed. “Yes, all good things.” She looked back at Tony, still smiling, but her eyes were a warning.

“Anyways,” Tony said quickly, “We should get down to the lab. Lots to do, so little time.”

Peter looked back and forth between Tony and Pepper rapidly. “Uh yeah, okay. Congrats on the… on the engagement by the way.”

Pepper’s smile went back to genuine. “You’re so sweet! Thank you, Peter. I hope I get to see you again soon.”

Peter smiled back shyly. “Yeah, I… yeah.”

“Alright Pete, let’s go,” Tony herded Peter towards the lab.

Pepper gave him a look that clearly read, _“We’ll talk about this later,”_ before he hastily retreated.

He ushered Peter into the lab, subtly watching the awed expression on his face.

“Holy shit,” Peter whispered as Tony brought him over to his desk. “I mean shoot.”

Tony ignored him, picking up a pen and tapping it to his cast.

“How’s that doing?” he asked absently.

“Oh,” Peter said, like he had forgotten about it. “It’s basically healed now. I’m just keeping it on for appearances.”

Tony hummed. Super healing must be nice. “Looks like you’ve got a lot of signatures.”

“Oh yeah,” Peter smiled and lifted his cast so Tony could get a closer look. “The whole decathlon team signed it, and Aunt May too.”

Tony read some of the signatures. There was one from his friend Ned with some sort of Star Wars reference, one from a girl named Michelle who drew a surprisingly rendered drawing of a middle finger, and a bunch of other names he didn’t recognize.

“Would you like me to sign it?” Tony asked casually, uncapping his pen.

Peter smiled. “I think you’d better not. I already get enough flack at school for having a Stark internship. I don’t really want anyone to notice your signature.”

Tony recapped the pen, furrowing his brows. “What?”

Peter shrugged. “I think people don’t believe that I _actually_ know you. They would think that I forged your signature for attention or something, and I just really don’t need that.”

Tony felt anger surge at the thought of anyone making fun of Peter because of him. “That’s ridiculous. They’re clearly just jealous. Would you like me to pick you up from school next week to prove it to them? I could bring my most expensive, flashy car.”

Peter laughed. “No thanks, Mr. Stark. It’s okay, I don’t really care. You don’t have to do that.”

Of course he didn’t. Tony loved showing people up, but Peter wasn’t so petty. He was frustratingly okay with being the butt of people’s jokes as long as he got to keep doing what he loved.

Tony shook his head. “Okay kid, but the offer still stands. If you ever need me to do anything for you…”

“I get it Mr. Stark, thanks,” Peter beamed at him. “Now, what do you have to work on today?”

Tony opened up a holographic screen and starting pointing to it and explaining the project to Peter, who listened with apt focus. Usually he let himself get lost in the process, but today he found himself hyper focused on Peter’s presence next to him. It was… nice. He wasn’t used to having a lab partner, and he would have thought that explaining everything to Peter would be frustrating, but instead it felt rewarding. Peter was so enthusiastic about everything Tony said to him that he felt like he was delivering the best news of his life with every sentence. And when he let him test out tools… he might as well have been handing out free puppies.

Peter was smart too. He wasn’t just asking questions, but he was offering solutions too. Tony was impressed. The kid was obviously a genius in the making, and with the right resources he could bring those skills to a whole new level.

Tony could help him reach that level. With his technology and Peter’s brains, it would only be a matter of time before he could help Peter design his own suit that wasn’t made from old hand-me-downs and spare parts from the dumpster.

It surprised Tony how willing he was to do that. Excited, even. He wasn’t the fatherly type, he had never been. He never considered having children, figuring his lifestyle and his habits were no environment for a kid. He had never wanted them either. When May first told him that Peter was his son, he felt _scared._ He hadn’t wanted to know. He had not believed it at first. Somehow in the two months since then, Tony had grown irreversibly attached to Peter. Was this what it felt like to care for a child? Did he even have the right?

And the even bigger question was: was this a good thing or a bad thing?

 

* * *

 

After Peter had left, Pepper reappeared with a judgmental look.  
  
Tony scrubbed his face. “Please, Pepper, whatever you’re gonna say, just come out and say it. I’m tired.”  
  
“What happened to keeping your distance?” she asked.  
  
“Well, funny story actually... I talked to his aunt, sorted everything out. Mostly. But she’s fine with it now, so we’re cool.”  
  
“Is his aunt is fine with you just spending time with him or is she fine with you telling him why she _wasn’t_ fine with it in the first place?” Pepper said skeptically. “Because those are two very different things.”  
  
“Well, we haven’t exactly discussed the fine details...” Tony rubbed the back of his neck. “I’m working on it.”  
  
“Are you? Because you have to make up your mind on this, Tony. You can’t keep stringing him along,” Pepper answered sharply. “If you want to spend more time with him and get to know him, that’s fine. I support you. But you need to tell him. You either spend time with him and tell him, or keep your distance and don’t. Those are your only two options.”  
  
“I know...”  
  
“Do you?” Pepper asked. “Because the longer you wait, the worse the fallout will be.”  
  
Tony knew Pepper was right. He knew he had to tell Peter, and soon. Both him and May were in too deep to turn back now. Whether either of them liked it or not, Peter was a part of Tony’s life now. There was no reason not to let him know.  
  
_And yet..._  
  
Tony felt an immense fear when he tried to imagine telling Peter. How would he even tell him? How would Peter react? Would he be angry? Disappointed?  
  
Would he not want to see Tony anymore?  
  
Their relationship had been tenuous from the start, but before it had been Tony who wanted to keep the space between them. But after spending time with him, Tony didn’t want to lose him.  
  
Peter’s ingenuity, his brightness, and his good nature were only part of the reason Tony had grown fond of him. Those were things that anyone who had spent five minutes with him could see. He wore his heart on his sleeve. What made Tony really admire him were the things that happened in the silent moments between them where his excited demeanor cracked and he revealed the profound soul underneath. Like in his bedroom when Tony met him for the first time and he spoke about responsibility. Or before they went to Germany, when he balled his hands into fists and told him that Sokovia wasn’t his fault. Or in the lab, when he bursted with knowledge and curiosity that rivaled Tony’s at his age. He might even give Tony a run for his money someday...  
  
Or maybe he could work with him. Inherit the company. Tony had never let himself think that far in advance enough to plan who would be his successor, but now that he thought about it, Peter was the perfect candidate. He could be Tony’s protégé, he could teach him everything he knows, not just about the company, but about life. He could teach him what he’s learned about being a hero, how to fight, and even more mundane things like how to drive. He found himself... actually wanting that.  
  
“Tony,” Pepper repeated, snapping him out of his thoughts. “Are you going to tell him?”  
  
“Yeah, Tony responded absently. “I’ll tell him.”  
  
_How was he going to tell him?_


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's now or never.

“May,” Tony said over the phone, his voice sounded wrecked. “We have to tell him.”

There was no sound on the other end of the phone for a moment. Then a deep breath, “I know.”

“It’s the right thing to do,” Tony explained, even though she already agreed. “He deserves to know.”

“I know,” May repeated.

A silence fell between them, neither of them sure what else to say.

“You know, I knew this was going to happen eventually,” May finally continued. “It was only a matter of time. From the very first moment you stepped into our apartment, I knew.”

Tony’s throat felt tight and he was unsure how to respond. “I’m sorry,” he said simply.

“Don’t be,” May responded quickly. “You’re his father, and he admires you so much. I guess I was just… scared. I didn’t want to lose him.”

“You won’t lose him,” Tony promised. “He loves you so much, and you raised him. You can never be replaced.”

May laughed, but it sounded sad. “Thanks. I just… It’s hard to picture what’s going to happen next. Will he start splitting time between us? Will he not want to live with me anymore? I don’t want that to happen, but I guess it’s all up to him in the end.”

Tony swallowed, he hadn’t even thought that far ahead. True, he had a room set up for Peter at the compound, but would he even want to stay?

“I doubt he’ll want to move in with me,” he answered honestly. “Don’t worry about that. Let’s just worry about how we’re going to tell him.”

“Right… when should we tell him? And how? Should we let him know together?”

“Let me… let me figure that out. I’ll let you know. I think we should tell him together, but first… could I spend a day with Peter? I could take him around New York, maybe take him to the zoo, whatever he likes. I just want one last day in case…”

_In case he decides he never wants to see me again._

“Yeah,” May agreed. “Of course. I can ask him when he’s free and text you some days.”

“Okay,” Tony nodded. “Thank you.”

“And for the record,” May added. “I’m glad… that you’re Peter’s father. Out of everyone it could have been, or who I sometimes wished it had been, I think you’re what he needs the most.”

Tony felt his heart squeeze in his chest. He gripped the phone tightly, unable to respond.

“Even if I haven’t totally understood you this whole time, I can see now what you’ve been trying to do,” May continued. “I trust you to protect Peter and look out for his best interests. And I can tell you really care about him. I appreciate what you’ve done for him. And I appreciate that you stepped back when I told you to. I know it must have not been easy for you, but you sacrificed your own feelings for what you felt was best for Peter. And in the end, that’s what parenthood is all about. So no matter what happens when Peter finds out… I want you to know that you’re alright by me.”

Tony muttered a quiet ‘thank you,’ unable to say anything else.  

“I know it’s not the approval you’re looking for,” May laughed. “But I hope you accept it. As well as my apology.”

“No, no,” Tony said quickly, finding his voice. “It’s… I really needed to hear that. Thank you.”

They said their goodbyes shortly after, and as soon as Tony hung up, he got up from his seat and sought out Pepper, who was reading a book on the couch in the living room. He snuck up behind her and wrapped his arms tightly around her shoulders.

Pepper put her book down. “What’s this for?”

“For me,” Tony responded, his voice muffled in her hair.

Pepper shimmied until her arms were freed and turned around to hug him back.

“Are you okay?”

“I called May,” Tony answered. “We’re going to tell Peter.”

Pepper didn’t say anything for a few moments. Instead, she brought her hand up to his head and ran her fingers through his hair. “I’m proud of you.”

Tony didn’t say anything back. Instead, he jumped over the couch so he could hug her more closely. They stayed in a tight embrace for a few more minutes.

“Are you nervous?” Pepper asked, pulling away a little to look into his eyes.

“As hell,” Tony responded.

Pepper leaned forward and kissed him gently.

“It’ll be okay.”

“What if he hates me?”

“He won’t hate you,” Pepper tsked. “He already loves you.”

“As Iron Man, maybe,” Tony said. “As a mentor, as Tony Stark. Not as a father.”

“Do you love him as a son?”

Tony thought about it for a moment. “Yes. I think I do.”

Pepper smiled. “Well, then I think he’ll see that. Maybe he won’t right away, and maybe he won’t say it out loud, but I think he’ll feel it.”

“How can you be so sure?”

“Because he’s a kid who needs his father, and everybody wants to be loved,” she put her hands on his cheeks and looked at him pointedly. “Especially people who have gone through so much loss.”

Tony swallowed and nodded. She was right. Peter was exactly what he needed without even knowing he needed it. He came into his life at a time when he was at an all time low. Most of his friends had abandoned him, Iron Man’s approval rating was in the dirt, his PTSD was getting the best of him, and the Accords effectively dismantled the Avengers. Then Peter walked into his life (or rather, he walked into Peter’s without realizing what would happen) and everything was flipped upside down. Suddenly, it didn’t seem so overwhelming as long as Peter looked up at him like he hung the stars in the sky.

But maybe that would all change once Peter realized he was the father that abandoned him all those years ago. Tony didn’t know if he could go back to the way things were.

At one point in his life he thought that Pepper was the only thing he couldn’t live without. Now he realized that spot had expanded to fit two.

Pepper rubbed his cheekbone with her thumb. “Everything will be okay,” she assured him.

And Tony let himself believe her because there was nothing else he could do.

 

* * *

 

The next thing he decided to do was tell Rhodey. He figured it was only fair, since he was his best friend and Pepper and Happy already knew. Happy had figured it out on his own due to sheer exposure to both Peter and Tony. He supposed it didn’t take much to do the math. Enthusiasm and awkwardness aside, Peter was practically a carbon copy of Tony. Anyone who spent time around them could figure it out eventually.

Happy had alluded to it jokingly, and Tony confirmed it. It was a quick exchange, but one that left Happy floored. Tony hadn’t expanded on it, and he knew Happy would come back with questions, but for now he was sitting in a cafe in SoHo with Rhodey, his friend firing off question after question.

“How long have you known?”

“Around two months.”

“How did you find out?”

“His aunt told me.”

“What did she say?”

“To stay the hell away from him.”

“And you didn’t?”

“Clearly not.”

“Is she cool with you now?”

“Mostly, yeah.”

“Did you know he was your son when you brought him to Germany?”

“Absolutely not. Wouldn’t have done it if I did.”

“At what point did you find out?”

“Right _after_ Germany.”

“And he doesn’t know?”

“He has no idea.”

“Are you gonna tell him?”

“That’s the plan.”

“Jesus, Tony,” Rhodey rubbed his eyes. “This is a lot of information.”

“To be fair, it’s kind of miraculous that he’s the only one,” Tony shrugged.

“You have a _kid,”_ Rhodey said in disbelief. “You’re a _father._ ”

“I know, wild.”

“So… this is real? You’re not playing me?” Rhodey asked.

“I’m dead serious.”

“Wow,” Rhodey blinked down at his coffee, absorbing the information. “I can’t believe it. You’re getting married and you have a kid. That’s very… domestic of you, Tony.”

Tony pretended to gag. “Ugh, please don’t say that.”

Rhodey smiled. “Are you settling down? Do you think the next step is to buy a nice cozy home in the suburbs? Get a dog maybe?”

“Watch it,” Tony warned. Rhodey laughed.

“I want to meet him,” he decided. “Like for real, out of the suit. I need to see this mini-Tony for myself. When can I meet him?”

“Uh, you might want to wait on that,” Tony scratched his nose. “Let me break the news to the squirt first, then see how he reacts.”

“Judging by what I saw in Germany, that kid adores you,” Rhodey assured. “I think it’ll be fine. Maybe he’ll be a little blindsided at first, but he’ll come around.”

“That’s what Pepper said,” Tony replied.

“Good. She knows what she’s talking about,” Rhodey reached for his drink and took a sip. “I’m really happy for you, man.”

“Thanks,” Tony quirked a small smile. “I’ll be even happier once all of this is over.”

“When are you going to tell him?” Rhodey asked.

“I’m meeting up with him this Saturday, I’m taking him to the science museum. Then we’ll tell him after.”

“Warming him up, I like it.”

“Yeah, well,” Tony fidgeted. “More like… spending one last day with him before he never thinks of me the same again.”

Rhodey furrowed his eyebrows. “Do you think he’ll be mad?”

Tony shrugged. “I don’t think he’ll be thrilled.”

“Why not?”

“Uh,” Tony pretended to think about it. “Maybe because I’ve known about this for two months and haven’t told him? Or maybe because I’ve been absent for fifteen years of his life? Or maybe because I just don’t add up to the vision of who he hoped his father would be?”

“First of all,” Rhodey raised his finger. “Who _wouldn’t_ want their long lost father to turn out to be Tony Stark? So that last question is invalid.”

Tony snorted.

“Second of all, don’t beat yourself up about it, man. It wasn’t your fault. I’m sure he’ll understand.”

“Maybe.”

“He seems like a good kid. I doubt he’ll be mad.”

“Thanks,” Tony said weakly. It didn’t calm his nerves any, but it was still reassuring to hear.

Rhodey smiled. “Now for real, after you tell him, how soon do I get to meet him? I wanna see just how much ‘Stank’ he inherited.”

Tony smiled and rolled his eyes, trying to pretend everything was alright for now.

 

* * *

 

Tony was honest-to-god wringing his hands like some sort of anxious grandmother. He quickly rubbed them against his suit jacket to give them something else to do before the apartment door opened and May was tensely smiling at him.

“Tony! Nice to see you,” she said cheerily, but Tony could see the nervousness in her eyes. Now that they had planned to tell Peter the truth, everything seemed so much more tense and theatrical now. It was like they were trying to keep up the act for Peter for as long as they could before everything inevitably fell apart.

Tony nodded in return, “May.”

From behind her, Peter emerged in the living room, wearing a button down and loose fitting jeans, looking slightly confused. Tony supposed a day out with him was unprecedented and out-of-the-blue. He wondered if May gave him a reason why or if he would have to come up with one.

He smiled more genuinely this time, happy to see Peter despite the tense circumstances. “Hey, Pete! You ready?”

Peter smiled back. “Yeah!”

“Alright kiddo, let’s go,” Tony gestured Peter over and he obeyed, kissing May on the cheek as he passed her.

“See you later, Aunt May!” he called out behind him as they closed the door.

Once they were alone, Tony felt a lot more nervous and vulnerable. It was easier in the lab, when they had something to do. This time, it was just them walking down the hallway with no distractions. He coughed uncomfortably.

“So,” Peter started. “What’s the reason for bringing me to the science museum?”

“I just thought it was up your alley,” Tony tried to respond as nonchalantly as possible.

Peter nodded. “So, no real reason?”

Tony eyed him. “I guess not,” he responded slowly. “I just thought I’d get to know you a bit better. As Peter. Not as, you know,” he gestured vaguely. He didn’t want anyone to overhear him as they passed by on the street.

“Oh,” Peter hummed.

“Is that okay with you?” Tony asked hesitantly.

“Oh, yeah,” Peter snapped back into his cheery self and put a little more bounce in his step.

Tony eyed him wearily. There was something he wasn’t telling him, but he decided to drop it for now. He wanted to focus on having a good day with him.

He led Peter towards his car and unlocked the doors, hopping in the driver's seat. Peter gawked as he sat inside, running his hands over the dashboard reverently.

“You like it?” Tony quirked a smile.

“This is… the most expensive car I’ve ever been inside of,” he whispered dramatically.

“Well, I have some news for you then… this isn’t even my most expensive car.”

Peter swiveled his head to look Tony in the eye. “Are you serious?”

Tony pointed to himself. “Billionaire. I have lots of cool trinkets.”

Peter huffed out a laugh. Tony felt the tension ease away a little bit. He put the key in the ignition and shifted gears into drive.

“Oh my god,” Peter said next to him as the car thrummed to life. “This is so cool.”

“Wanna see something even more cool?” Tony asked, pressing a button on the dashboard. “Seat warmers.”

“Ahhh…” Peter sighed as his seat started warming up. “This is amazing.”

Tony drove the short distance to the museum, playing AC/DC music and relaying to Peter the latest and greatest of his technology. Peter listened in fascination. Once they parked, Peter was practically vibrating with enthusiasm, his previous apprehension gone.

“So do you really have a suit of armor that can stop the _Hulk?_ How did you even engineer that?”

“Lots of trial and error,” Tony said simply, swinging his keys around his finger before pocketing them. “Like… a _lot.”_

Once they were inside the museum, Tony let Peter lead the way. They grabbed a map and Peter looked through it.

“Oh man, I haven’t been here in years. They have so many new exhibits!”

“Oh yeah?” Tony asked. “Where to first?”

Peter led him to the exhibit on Mathematica first. Tony mostly trailed behind and smiled in amusement as Peter enthused about all the science. It was mostly gimmicky stuff, nothing on the level that he was used to dealing with, but it made the kid happy so he pretended to be fascinated.

After they had spent a good two hours just walking around, Tony was relieved when Peter had finally seen enough. He could only handle so much walking around and looking at stuff, especially when he was trying to pretend he didn’t notice people gawking at him.

“Wanna get a bite to eat?” he asked, checking his watch. It was almost one in the afternoon.

“Yeah, yeah,” Peter agreed. “Sounds good.”

Peter recommended a spot in Queens that he went to with his friends a lot. It was a family-owned Portuguese restaurant which, in Peter’s opinion, had “the best churros you’ll ever eat.” So they ordered individual meals and got a side of churros to split.

“I had fun today,” Peter said while nibbling on a piece that he had dipped in chocolate.

Tony smiled. “I did too. Thanks for coming out with me today, kid.”

Peter hummed.

Tony looked at Peter. He seemed distracted again. He wondered if something was wrong.

“What’s up, kid?”

Peter looked back up at him. “Nothing!”

“Come on, something’s bothering you. Let it out.”

“No, everything’s fine, just…” he scrunched his eyebrows. “May didn’t put you up to this, did she?”

Tony paused. “What?”

“It’s just,” Peter shrugged, his eyes back on his food. “She’s always so worried about me. Ever since my uncle died, she thinks I need like… a male role model to talk to, I guess. But really, I’m fine. She’s not forcing you to do this, is she?”

“Of course not,” Tony shook his head in disbelief. “In fact, I was the one that asked her if it was okay if I took you out today.”

Peter raised an eyebrow like he didn’t quite believe him.

“I’m serious. And I’m sorry about your uncle,” Tony added quickly. They’ve never addressed it before and he didn’t want to gloss over it.

Peter shrugged. “It’s okay.”

Tony was quiet for a moment. He wasn’t sure if he should push the subject or move on.

“Your aunt told me what happened,” he said finally. “That’s terrible.”

Peter’s eyes bulged. “What did she tell you?”

“That you were there.”

Peter’s face turned beet red and he looked away.

“My parents died when I was 21,” he said quickly, sensing Peter’s discomfort. “I thought it was a car crash. But I found out this year… they were murdered. I saw… I saw the footage of them being killed.”

The wounds were still too raw, too fresh. Tony tried to deliver it with as much composure as he could, but he found himself choking out the last part. He left out the details of who killed them and how he found out, Peter didn’t need to know.

Peter’s embarrassed face immediately morphed into concern. “Oh my god, I’m so sorry…”

Tony shrugged. “It’s okay. What I’m getting at is, I know what you’re going through to a degree. I know how hard it is and I know what it does to you. If you ever need to talk about it, I’m here.”

Peter’s face crumbled into something unreadable for a second before he schooled it back into a neutral expression.

“My parents died too, when I was five. They were in a plane crash.” He said it so casually, like he was discussing the weather.

“I’m sorry, I can't imagine what it’s like to lose them as young as you have.”

Peter looked conflicted. “Well… honestly, I think it was probably worse for you,” he said quietly. “I was so little, I barely remember them. When I think of my parents… I think of May and Ben. I feel guilty about that sometimes, but I only know how they looked because of pictures. I wish I could remember them better… I feel like I don’t miss them as much as I should.”

Peter pushed his food around on his plate shyly, not even bothering to eat it anymore. Tony watched him for a moment. He was being so honest, and it was obvious that he had never said any of this before. May certainly didn’t know about this. He wondered why he was trusting him of all people to say this to.

“When my father died, I didn’t even miss him,” Tony admitted. “I felt horrible. He was my father, he raised me, but I just didn’t feel it. He was never really there for me. I realized when he died that I barely knew him at all.”

It felt weirdly personal to say that out loud, especially to Peter. This was the most vulnerable he’d been around him, or anyone. He never really told anyone that. But Peter had just told him something extremely personal and he felt like he should return the favor and let him know that he wasn’t the only person to feel that way.

“You should never feel guilty,” he continued. “Your parents loved you and your uncle loved you and they would have been proud of who you’ve become. You have nothing to be guilty about.”

Peter’s expression suddenly crumpled into a mix of fear and misery and Tony froze. Had he said the wrong thing?

“Peter?”

“Can we leave?” Peter whispered, his voice cracking.

Tony nodded immediately and pulled out his wallet, throwing more money on the table than the meal was worth as Peter hastily stood up. He was already pushing the door open and heading towards the parking lot before Tony even got out of his seat. Tony jogged behind him, pulling out his keys to unlock his car so Peter could scramble into the passenger seat.

Tony stood outside of the car for half a second, afraid to go inside. He had made everything worse somehow. By trying to help, he messed everything up. But wasn’t that just par-for-the-course in his life?

He opened the door and slid inside. Peter was sitting with his legs hugged to his chest and staring at the dashboard. Tears glistened in his eyes.

“I’m sorry,” Tony tried. “I didn’t mean to—”

“It’s my fault that Uncle Ben died,” Peter interrupted him. “I was there. I had my powers. I could’ve stopped the muggers, but I didn’t. I didn’t do _anything._ ”

Tears flowed down Peter’s cheeks and Tony was at a loss. May told him that Peter witnessed him get shot, but he didn’t think about whether or not he had his powers yet.

“He stood in front of me,” Peter continued. “Like he had to protect _me._ When I should’ve protected _him_.”

Tony’s heart broke. Peter was just a kid. He shouldn’t feel like he had to protect anyone.

“I let it happen,” Peter confessed. “It’s my fault. I could’ve prevented it. I can’t… I can’t ever do that again.”

Suddenly everything clicked into place. What Peter said in his bedroom when they first met, why May said Peter was never the same after Ben died, why Peter stubbornly refused to stop being Spider-Man when everyone around him told him to stop. Peter felt like he had to atone for his uncle’s death.

“It’s not your fault,” Tony said sternly. “You can’t expect yourself to be the hero one hundred percent of the time. You’re still just a kid.”

“But this was a time when it really _mattered,_ ” Peter said. “And I did nothing.”

“You froze up,” Tony said. “You’re human. You reacted to stress. It’s okay, I’m sure your uncle wouldn’t have blamed you. _I_ don’t blame you.”

Peter let out a sob. Tony moved to awkwardly embrace him over the seats. Peter rested his head on his shoulder, gasping and shuddering. Tony placed his chin on his head and let him cry for as long as he needed to. He needed this, he clearly had not gotten the chance to properly grieve in a long time.

He murmured _it’s okay, it’s okay, it’s not your fault_ over and over again to soothe Peter as he ran his hand up and down his shuddering back. He wasn’t sure if Peter believed him, or even heard him, but he needed to say it. He needed Peter to understand that everything was going to be okay and he did nothing wrong. He was just a kid, he didn’t deserve this kind of weight on his conscience.

It took a few minutes for Peter to calm down until his breathing finally steadied into occasional hitching breaths. He pulled away from Tony slowly, rubbing the tears away from his face.

“I’m sorry,” he mumbled. “That was weird.”

“No,” Tony said quickly. “Thank you for opening up to me. I’m glad you let that all out.”

Peter looked back at Tony and flushed. “I can’t believe I just cried in front of you.”

 _It’s okay,_ he wanted to say. _I'_ _m your father._

“I’m lucky,” Peter continued before Tony could gather the courage to say anything at all. “My parents loved me, and my aunt and uncle loved me. A lot of kids don’t even get one set of loving parents. I shouldn’t complain.”

“But you also lost three parents,” Tony pointed out. “That’s more than most kids have to deal with.”

“I lost four parents, actually,” Peter said so quietly that Tony almost didn’t hear him.

“What…?”

“My real dad,” Peter explained and Tony froze. “I never met him. He left my mom before I was even born.”

Tony’s mouth felt dry. He tried to say something, anything, but nothing came out.

“My mom said that he ‘wasn’t ready to handle the responsibility of a child,’ which is basically a nice way of saying he didn’t want me,” Peter hugged his knees to his chest again, looking down. “I’ve never admitted this before, because I’m scared May will think that I don’t appreciate her, and I do, but… sometimes I can’t help but wonder where he is.”

 _Tell him,_ Tony’s mind ordered. _Tell him, tell him now._

“After Ben died, I found myself thinking about him more. I just… I wonder if he’s still out there, and if he ever thinks about me.”

_Now is your chance._

“I don’t know his name or what he looks like. I don’t know if he even lives in New York, but sometimes I wonder if he knows about Spider-Man.”

_Do it._

Peter looked to him with big brown, watery eyes. He was looking for reassurance, for validation, and for something that he didn’t even realize that Tony would gladly give him.

“I’m sure he’d be proud of you,” he found himself saying. He put a shaking hand on Peter’s shoulder and Peter smiled shyly, wiping away more tears that threatened to fall.

He didn’t say anything else.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Longest chapter yet! I hope you guys enjoyed that because I'm still writing chapter 8 and I'm not sure if I'll be able to finish it by next Thursday, haha... 
> 
> I've been looking forward to posting this chapter for a long time though, and I'm so happy it's finally out!


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The other shoe drops.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I literally JUST finished writing this, so I haven't had the chance to read it over, so it might be bad.

Tony planned on telling Peter, he really did. He just wanted to do it at the right time. He kicked himself a little bit  _ (a lot) _ for not telling him during their conversation in the car that weekend, but he hadn’t been prepared and he didn’t want to mess it up. He was usually known for his impromptu announcements, but this situation seemed too delicate to risk it. 

Besides, he wanted May there when he told him (more like he needed her there for emotional support and to put out any fires that he caused while he tried to explain) so he told himself he’d wait. He and May had a conversation the following day on when would be the best time to break the news. They had decided that Friday would be the best, so that Peter wouldn’t be busy with school work and he’d have the weekend to digest the new situation. They discussed how to break it to him gently and in a way that would be the least shocking and stressful. He even began writing a speech. 

Of course, all of that went to shit immediately after Tony woke up on Monday morning. 

He walked into the kitchen to see Pepper sitting at the counter with a cup of coffee, which was unusual in itself. Usually she was already gone by the time he woke up, off on company business. The fact that she was still there was enough to make Tony feel slightly unnerved. Then when she looked up at him and her expression turned to fear, his stomach dropped. 

“Pep…”

“Tony, I think you should stay away from TVs and your phone for now…” 

“What’s going on?” 

“Rhodey is on his way and we’ll explain everything, but for now please just stay calm and understand that we can fix this.” 

“This isn’t making me feel any better,” Tony could feel panic bubble up in his chest and he tried to quell it. “Honey, tell me what happened. Did I get some bad press? Did someone die? Is it… is Steve back?” 

Tony’s mind swirled around all of the possibilities, each one more horrible than the other.  _ Please let everyone be okay.  _

“Tony, you’re overthinking, everything is going to be okay.” 

“Then why won’t you tell me what’s going on?” 

Pepper opened her mouth like she was going to explain but then as if on cue, Rhodey burst in the room holding a rolled up magazine, Happy trailing behind him out of breath. 

“Sorry Pepper, I got here as fast as I could,” Rhodey explained, sounding slightly out of breath himself. 

“It’s okay, he just woke up, I haven’t told him yet.” 

“Is  _ anyone _ going to tell me what’s going on?” Tony asked. 

In lieu of an answer, Rhodey slapped the magazine on the counter. Tony gave him a look and then his eyes trailed down to the cover. All of a sudden, it was like all of the panic that had been creeping up on him finally coalesced into a single pinpoint of  _ dread.  _ He felt his blood freeze as he stared at it. On the front cover was a grainy photo of him and Peter. It was from Saturday, they were walking out of the museum together, Tony’s arm around Peter’s shoulder as he led him to the car and Peter’s face was frozen in mid-laugh. The title read:  _ Tony Stark’s Secret Illegitimate Son?  _

Tony saw red. He grabbed the magazine and ripped to the inside spread on him and Peter. There were more paparazzi shots, including one of Peter walking to the car in tears,  _ sons of bitches _ . There was also a whole story speculating Peter’s connection with Tony. From what he skimmed, Peter’s identity was still unknown and there was no actual proof, just theories. This was the type of magazine that thrived on misinformation and celebrity slander. They didn’t care to check their facts or consider the repercussions of their accusations, all in favor of making a quick buck and getting a story out first. They used buzzwords and wild theories in order to get a rise out of people and make their stories sell. But unfortunately for him, this shitty, sorry excuse for a magazine had somehow managed to  _ correctly _ guess, and that put him  _ and Peter  _ in a lot of danger. 

“What the  _ hell?”  _ Tony seethed. 

“It’s just a creditless gossip magazine,” Pepper said reassuringly, grabbing Tony’s arm and gently taking the magazine out of his death grip. “There are no sources, the speculations are baseless, all they have is a couple of grainy photos and their theories. If we just ignore it, this whole thing will blow over in a matter of weeks.” 

Tony shook his head. “But their theories are  _ right.” _

“Only partially, and they have no proof.” 

“Will Peter see this?”

Pepper pursed her lips. “We don’t know. Possibly. If anyone tips off the magazine that they know his identity, we might have an even bigger media storm on our hands, so I suggest you get behind this and tell him before the press does first.” 

Tony felt the panic resurge and replace the rage.  _ Tell Peter.  _ Oh god, how was he going to explain this to Peter?

He hastily reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone, calling May. She answered on the third ring, giving a friendly greeting. They had been getting along much better now that they had sorted out the beef between them, but now Tony was about to drop this bomb and he wasn’t sure if she would go back to hating him. 

“Where’s Peter?” he asked briskly. 

“What…? At school, it’s Monday.” 

“Call the office, pull him out. I’m heading over.” 

“What’s going on?” 

“Do you read gossip magazines, Ms. Parker?” 

“What? No, I don’t believe any of the garbage they write in those.” 

“Well hopefully most people are like you, because I’m looking at a photo of me and Peter that strongly suggests I’m his father on the cover of  _ Shitty Journalism Weekly. _ ” 

_ “What?”  _

“Yeah, funny how they’re able to get some things right sometimes. I guess when you throw so many blind darts, you’re bound to hit the target eventually. Anyways, can you get Peter home? He might have already heard of it, but we need to do as much damage control as possible. Looks like we’re bumping that meeting up to today.”

“Oh my god,” May sounded as frenzied as he felt. “Yeah, I’ll call the office now.” 

“Alright, I’ll be right there.” 

Tony hung up, feeling dizzy with stress. Oh god, this was happening, this was actually happening. He clutched the counter for support and blinked rapidly to try to get the world to get back in focus. Pepper grabbed his shoulders, kneading them gently. 

“It’s okay, Tony. Just breathe.” 

He didn’t even realize his breaths were coming out in short, shallow gasps. He composed himself quickly, closing his eyes and breathing deeply for a few seconds before turning around to face Pepper, Happy, and Rhodey. 

“I have to do this now.” 

“Yes, you do,” Pepper nodded. “It’s going to be okay.” 

_ Will it? _

Tony kissed her on the cheek. “I’ll see you later. Maybe.” 

Pepper smiled. “I’ll see you too. Good luck.” 

Tony thanked her and grabbed his coat, rushing out and ignoring his shaking hands. He tried to remember what he had planned on telling Peter. Everything that happened before seemed like such a blur now. It didn’t feel like this was a real thing that was going to happen. He wished he had just one more day with Peter not knowing.  _ Just one more day…  _ But of course, that wouldn’t happen. His delusional daydream was coming to an end, and it was time to face the consequences. 

 

* * *

 

Peter sat on the couch with his hands clasped between his knees, looking back and forth between May and Tony who both looked equally anxious. 

“So… I’m gonna guess this isn’t a dentist appointment that I forgot about?” Peter asked, trying to diffuse the tension. 

May shook her head. 

“So, uh, why did you pull me out of school? And why is Tony here? Wait,” Peter’s eyes widened. “Is this a mission? Should I get my suit?” 

“No, no,” Tony dismissed. “No mission. Just… we need to talk. There’s something we need to tell you.” 

“Oh,” Peter looked between them again but neither of them said anything else. “What?” 

May looked at Tony and nodded. It was all him. 

“Peter,” Tony sighed. He sat down next to him on the couch and patted his knee. This was it. The point of no return. “Has anyone approached you about a magazine article written about... us?” 

Peter’s confused face melted into understanding. “Oh, that. Yeah, Flash cut out the pictures and pasted them on my locker this morning. He’s making fun of me a little, but at least no one thinks I’m making up my internship anymore. I mean, I am, but now they know that I  _ actually  _ know Tony Stark. Don’t worry, I told everyone that it’s fake. I don’t think anyone would believe that anyways.” 

Tony stared steadily at him. 

“Unless… is this gonna put my identity at risk? Do you think people are gonna be able to figure out I’m Spider-Man?” When Tony still didn’t respond, Peter looked to May. “Am I in trouble?” 

“No sweetie,” May moved to sit on the other side of him and rubbed his back.

“What’s going on?” 

“We wanted to tell you a better way than this,” Tony said quietly. “We had it all planned out.” 

Peter furrowed his eyebrows. “What are you talking about?” 

“The article, Peter,” Tony said. “It…” 

“It’s just a fake story,” Peter supplied, troubled by Tony’s expression. “Right?” 

When neither adult answered, Peter repeated himself with a little less conviction. “... Right?” 

Tony looked back up at him guiltily. He wished he could let the words leave his mouth, but he couldn’t do it. They were stuck in his throat. He shook his head minutely. 

“Wait, so it’s…”

Tony nodded. Peter’s eyes widened in disbelief. 

_ “No way,” _ he whispered. 

He looked to May for confirmation. “Mr. Stark is…?” He trailed off, like he still wasn’t positive he was understanding correctly. 

“Tony is your father,” May finally confirmed with a nod. 

Peter turned back to face Tony with wide eyes, only for a second before turning back to May. But one second was all Tony’s needed to see the flurry of emotions orbiting in his eyes.

“This is a joke, right?” The question was directed at May, but Tony answered. 

“No. I’m sorry, we should have told you sooner.” 

Peter looked back at Tony like he was seeing him for the first time. It was hard to pinpoint exactly what he was feeling but Tony thought it was somewhere between disbelief-denial-shock-hurt. 

“How long have you known?” he asked May again. It seemed as if right now he didn’t have anything to say to Tony. 

Now it was May’s turn to look guilty. 

“I’ve... always known. I’m sorry Peter.”

“What?” Peter sounded slightly angry now. “Why are you just telling me now? And how did this magazine find out?”

“That was actually a complete accident on their part,” Tony chimed in, not sure if he should or not. “A shot in the dark, really. But they got it right.” 

Peter looked at him like he didn’t appreciate his answer. He stared at him for a while, as if trying to process that who he was looking at was his  _ father _ . He seemed to come to a conclusion, shaking his head and turning back to May. 

“Why didn’t you tell me?” he asked again, more sternly this time. 

May looked pleading. “I thought I was protecting you…” 

_ “Protecting me?”  _ Peter jumped out of his seat, wrenching May’s and Tony’s hands off of him. “How was this _ protecting me?” _

Tony felt a pang in his heart. 

“No, Peter, listen,” May tried. “We were going to tell you. We were just waiting—”

_ “Waiting?” _ Peter asked incredulously. “Waiting for  _ what? _ For everyone else in the world to find out before me?” 

Peter’s anger starting melting into devastation. His eyes began to fill with tears, and he looked to Tony for answers. He looked betrayed. Tony broke the eye contact. Internally, he was beating himself.  _ I should have told him in the car. Idiot.  _

He had worried that it was the wrong time. He didn’t want to lay that news on Peter when he was already feeling vulnerable and lonely. He didn’t want to unload more drama into that moment. But oh, how he wished he could go back in time now. 

“I’m sorry,” was all he managed to choke out. “I wanted to tell you sooner.” 

Peter scoffed. “Everyone at school… oh my god, no one is ever going to look at me the same way. And you  _ knew _ this whole time?” 

Peter’s furious gaze landed back on May. “How did you know?” 

“Your mother told me,” May said evenly. 

Peter looked taken aback by that. “She  _ told you?  _ But she never told me…” 

“You were too young,” May explained. “And she didn’t want you to get hurt.” 

“Well  _ that  _ worked out so well.” 

“Peter, please, why don’t you sit back down and we’ll explain the whole—”

_ “No,” _ Peter said emphatically. “I don’t want to hear it right now. I can’t believe this. I… I trusted you guys.” 

Peter shook his head, carding his fingers through his hair. May and Tony just sat there, wide-eyed. Tony’s fists ached from how hard he was clenching them. Peter turned around and grabbed his backpack from the floor. He slung it over his shoulder and walked towards the door. Tony flinched and made to get up and follow him, but May put her hand out to stop him. He left without another word, slamming the door behind him.

“We need to give him some time,” May said simply. 

“Where is he going?” Tony asked.

“He took his backpack,” May nodded to the door. “He has his suit in there. He’s probably going to go out as Spider-Man.”

Tony huffed. Of course. The number one thing he always did when he needed to blow off steam. 

“What are we going to do?” he asked, because he had no clue. His heart thrummed in his chest. Was this it? Was Peter never going to forgive him? 

May sighed. “We wait. That’s all we can do. He’ll come back around at some point, hopefully more calm and willing to listen. This is a lot of information for him, he needs time to adjust to it. I’ll call you when he comes back.” 

Tony nodded numbly. Waiting, more waiting. It felt like all he was doing was waiting lately. Waiting to tell Peter, waiting for him to forgive him, waiting the Accords out, waiting for friends to come back that probably never will… 

All this waiting has gotten him no results so far. If anything, it’s caused more pain. It didn’t allow for healing or closure. He was just forever waiting, waiting, waiting for things to get better. 

They never did. 

 

* * *

 

Pepper, Rhodey, and Happy were still there when he got back. They were congregated in the living room, speaking in concerned voices amongst themselves. As soon as Tony entered, they all became quiet and turned to him with wide eyes, waiting for a verdict. Tony simply shook his head, not bothering to say a word. 

“Oh no, Tony…” Pepper said before getting up to give him a hug. 

He buried his face in her shoulder, and only then did he feel the tears start to come. He had felt so numb throughout the entire ordeal, but it was all sinking in now. He clutched fabric of her shirt tightly and squeezed his eyes shut. 

Rhodey and Happy stood behind them with sympathetic expressions, giving the couple some space. As soon as Pepper let go of him, he looked towards them hopelessly. Rhodey came forward and patted him on the shoulder. 

“It’s gonna be okay, man.” 

None of them asked for context, for which he was grateful. He would tell them eventually, but not now… Right now, he just wanted to go to his lab and tinker with his tools until he couldn’t see straight. 

And so that’s what he decided to do. He left them without much of a word, and they let him. Usually Pepper didn’t let him get away without talking about something that was bothering him, but even she understood that he needed to be alone right now. He wandered down into his lab and they didn’t follow him. He knew that they wouldn’t leave him alone forever, but for now he just wanted to wrap himself up in the lie that everything was fine. 

He kept his hands busy doing simple tasks that he’s completed hundreds of times before. He just needed to do  _ something.  _ He tinkered with a helmet that had been damaged in a fight that he never bothered to fix. It really wasn’t worth fixing, it was easier to just build a new one and he had plenty of spares, but he worked on it anyways. (He was so  _ stupid _ to ever think that this could work out. Stupid Pepper, stupid Rhodey, getting his hopes up.) He aggressively screwed in a loose cog, his hands repeatedly slipping. He growled in frustration and gripped the screwdriver so tightly that his knuckles turned white. (He should have known that things were never so simple for him. He made mistakes left, right, and center. He never stopped making mistakes. Would he  _ ever _ stop?) The screw slipped off and clanged across the table before bouncing off and disappearing somewhere on the floor. (This was the  _ one _ thing he was so scared of screwing up that he was paralyzed by it. And he fucked it up anyways.)

He chucked the helmet across the room. It knocked over several bins full of tools and he heard glass shatter. He ran his fingers through his hair, breathing deeply to try to calm himself back down. He didn’t want to think about it right now. He had to distract himself, get back to work… 

And so that’s what he did for the next couple of hours. His mind went on autopilot. He barely let himself think about anything besides the task at hand. He was like a machine, robotically assembling parts and lacking emotion. 

He started working on a new Iron Man suit. Good thing Pepper was giving him space right now, because she would kill him if she saw him. He promised her  _ no more excessive building of Iron Man suits  _ and he had a three suit max at all times. He already had three suits stored away, but he found himself impulsively designing a fourth. Something about stress and negative emotions triggering addiction… 

But he had a  _ really _ good idea inspired by the disaster in Sokovia that he couldn’t get his mind off of. He was so easily overcome once his arc reactor was destroyed. The suit was useless without one. It’s a weakness, and he can’t have that. He can’t have  _ any _ weaknesses. But if the suit had multiple arc reactors… 

He was eventually snapped out of the numbness by his phone ringing. He jumped and cursed at the sudden sound and reached for his phone. The ID read  _ “Scary Aunt.” _ Maybe he should consider changing that. Although given the current situation, a call from her was still terrifying. A lump formed in his throat but he swallowed it and picked up anyways. 

“May? What’s going on with Peter?” 

He heard May take a deep, wavered breath. 

“He’s not coming home. He just called to say he’s staying over his friend Ned’s house tonight,” her voice sounded thick. 

Tony rubbed his face. “Okay, so, not done blowing off steam?” 

“He said that he ‘needs more space to think about it,’” May quoted. 

“Did he say anything else?” 

May sighed. “Not really. He’s being kind of tight-lipped right now, but he’s angry. And I don’t blame him.” 

Tony closed his eyes. He thought about everything that’s happened in the past couple months and everything he’s kept from Peter. “Yeah, I don’t blame him either.” 

“I’m going to try to talk to him,” May said. “When he comes back home. It’ll probably be tomorrow, and hopefully he’ll be more willing to listen then. I think… it might be better if I talk to him alone first. Let me try to explain everything to him, and I’ll let you know when he’s ready to talk to you.” 

“Yeah, yeah sounds good.” 

May made a choked sound that made Tony wonder if she was crying. “I just… I have to make this up to him somehow. I’m so sorry, Tony. I shouldn’t have told you that you couldn’t tell him. That wasn’t right.” 

“Don’t apologize,” he said firmly. “This isn’t your fault. This is my mistake that I made years ago, you were just doing what your sister-in-law wanted. And honestly, there was no reason for you to trust me.” 

“But now Peter’s mad and… I don’t know if he’ll ever think of me the same again.” 

_ You and me both. _

“He’ll come around,” Tony said with certainty he wasn’t really feeling. “He’s a good kid and he loves you.” 

_ I can’t say the same for myself.  _

And that was the rub, wasn’t it? Peter loved May. He said it himself in the car, she was the only mother he knew. He didn’t have that same connection with Tony. As much as Tony had grown attached to him in the past couple of months, it wasn’t a two way street. To Peter, Tony was just a famous rich guy that randomly showed up at his house to be a half-assed mentor a few months ago. And now that he found out he was his biological father, he had the added knowledge that he abandoned his mother before he was born and that he’s been lying to him this whole time. There was a slim chance Peter would ever want to see his face again, especially with the added publicity fiasco. 

This time he knew that May was definitely crying. He could hear hushed hiccuping breaths from the other end of the phone. He was quiet as he gave her time to compose herself before speaking again. 

“Have I lost him?” she asked tearfully, and Tony wasn’t sure if the question was directed at him or not. “I was just trying to keep him close, but I think I might have lost him.” 

Tony didn’t know how to respond. He felt like he should say something like  _ “it’s okay,” _ or  _ “everything is going to be fine,” _ but he couldn’t. Everyone kept telling him that over and over again and it was never true. He didn’t let himself believe it anymore. 

 

* * *

 

Tony finally dragged himself to bed after sitting on his lab floor for an hour fiddling uselessly with the helmet that he had thrown. He let his mind wander to other possibilities, other things he would have done if he could go back in time and do it all over again. He wished he could find himself sixteen years ago and smack him.  _ You have a son, _ he would scream.  _ Find him and take care of him.  _

He tried not to think of all the things he’s missed out on in Peter’s life. He would never get to hold him as a baby, never get to hear him say his first word, or walk for the first time. He missed fifteen birthdays, fifteen Christmases, and ten first days of school. Those were days he couldn’t get back, no matter how much he wanted to. He probably didn’t deserve to anyways. 

But, god, Peter deserved to have his father there for them. 

He crawled into bed next to Pepper. He tried to be quiet so she wouldn’t wake up, but he felt her shift and turn over. He looked up and her eyes were on him. They were steady and focused, like she had never really fallen asleep. 

“Are you okay?” she asked quietly. 

Tony maintained eye contact with her for a few moments before crumbling. He collapsed on the bed and huffed, the weight of the day finally taking its toll on his exhausted body. 

Pepper wrapped her arms around him comfortingly, bringing him closer so she could rest her head in the crook of his shoulder. 

“Do you want to talk about it?” she asked. 

“No,” he responded. He never wanted to talk about it. 

For once, Pepper didn’t push the issue. She didn’t keep reassuring him that everything was going to be okay like she usually did, or give him advice on what to do next. She just hugged him tighter. The silence between them was answer enough. The future was uncertain, and there were no right answers. It was up to Peter now. 

He found it strangely satisfying that she didn’t say anything, in a  _ I-was-right-you-were-wrong  _ kind of way. Finally, people weren’t pretending like everything was going to be a-okay anymore. The truth was settling in, and everyone else was discovering what Tony knew all along. 

Nothing was okay. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well I think it's safe to say now that my buffer is OFFICIALLY gone to not expect the next chapter next week. Sorry, guys! I haven't even started chapter 9 yet, although I have the whole story outlined. I'll try to finish it ASAP but, you know, life...


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, I wasn't planning on updating this today, but why not. I lost motivation a little bit on this chapter but I finished writing it on the train today.

Peter returned to his apartment the next day. Tony knew this because May called him to let him know. Peter himself had yet to reach out to him. May said to give it time, and everyone else seemed to agree with her, so he was trying to be patient. She told him that she’s been trying to explain everything to him and that he’s been slowly beginning to talk to her again, so she believes he’s making good progress.

He’s still unwilling, however, to talk to Tony. It’s been three days.

Peter’s name was inevitably leaked to the press by some anonymous tipper. It was only a matter of time, but Tony couldn’t help but feel incredibly frustrated at the lack of privacy they were afforded. People often didn’t treat celebrities with the dignity and respect of normal humans that needed space, and he had grown up with that and understood it, even flaunted it sometimes. But poor, shy, secretive Peter didn’t deserve that kind of scrutiny. 

Happy ended up sending part of his security team to covertly safeguard the Parker apartment. He knew Peter could handle himself, but he probably didn’t want to risk outing his second identity in the process. And May certainly needed help avoiding the press as well. 

“Tony, this is getting out of hand. Other tabloids and news outlets have already started picking up the story and Peter is no longer anonymous. We have to get in front of this before it starts to get suspicious,” Pepper pleaded, trailing after him as he walked down the hall, the  _ click, click, click  _ of her heels resonating in the contained space. “We have to make some sort of public announcement to address the rumors.” 

“And say what? They’re right?” Tony asked distractedly, flipping through lab notes on his tablet. 

“No, say they’re  _ wrong.”  _

“But that’s a lie. You know I’m not very good at lying at press conferences.” 

Pepper groaned dramatically. “Well  _ learn how.  _ This isn’t rocket science, Tony, and I know you could learn that overnight. If you won’t do it for yourself, do it for Peter. He needs to get these hungry reporters off his back.” 

Tony paused at that. 

“Please, Tony. I’ll handle everything, I’ll schedule the meeting, I’ll book the reporters, I’ll even write you a damn script on notecards if you promise not to throw them out this time. But I  _ really  _ recommend that you do this.” 

Tony stared down at his tablet, thinking. 

Pepper sighed. “I know this isn’t… ideal. And I know your default way of handling things is to not handle them at all. But this isn’t just about you now. I think we can both agree that Peter doesn’t need all of this unwanted attention, and I’m sure he’ll appreciate your effort to downsize it.” 

“I just… don’t know what he’ll think if he sees me denying him as my son to the whole world…” Tony admitted reluctantly. 

Pepper paused. “Is that what this is about?” 

Tony finally looked Pepper in the eyes. “I’ve been denying it to his face for the past couple of months, Pep. I don’t know if I can handle denying it anymore.” 

“But this isn’t denying it to  _ him,”  _ Pepper explained. “He already knows. It’s denying it to the  _ press  _ that want to use this information against him.” 

“I know,” Tony said, but didn’t say anything else. 

Pepper looked torn between sympathy and annoyance. He knew he was being unreasonable, but he was just trying to be honest. He didn’t know if he could do this. 

“Okay, I’ll give you a few days to think about it,” Pepper relented. “But really… if we let it go on much longer, it’s only going to make a bigger mess.” 

Tony nodded. He understood, and he knew this was something he was going to have to do eventually, whether he liked it or not. But he just needed more time… 

If he was being honest, he was waiting for Peter’s approval. He needed Peter to talk to him again, he needed to explain everything to him, and he needed Peter to give the ‘okay’ to tell the press that it was all a lie. Without that, it felt like he was going behind his back and rejecting him in front of the whole world. He couldn’t do that. 

And if he was being  _ really  _ honest, he’d been a wreck for the past three days. He hadn’t slept at all, he’d barely eaten, and Pepper had to use physical force to wrangle him out of his lab. Even outside of his lab, he was constantly working. Whether it was on a tablet or running numbers through his head, he was stuffing his thoughts with as much cold, hard math and science as he could to force the emotions out. It was only effective fifty percent of the time. The other fifty he found himself hunched over the nearest available surface with his face in his hands. 

The worst part wasn’t even the waiting, or knowing that Peter was mad at him. It was the silence. He hadn’t heard from him in days, and he only knew how he was doing because of May. Peter still refused to speak to him, so Tony had no idea what was going on in his head. For all he knew, Peter thought he purposefully abandoned him. He didn’t know what May told him. He was honestly too afraid to ask. He hoped she explained to him that Tony wanted him, and that he loved him, and he wanted to make things right.

Maybe not. But Peter’s silence made it impossible to tell. He wished he would just scream at him, let out all his anger and frustration, unleash his fury upon Tony. He deserved it. He deserved every hit that Peter could give him, and he would take it if it would make Peter feel better. He knew from experience that keeping it bottled up would only make it worse in the end, but according to May that was exactly what he’s been doing. 

Like father, like son. 

 

* * *

 

Tony welcomed May into his mansion. She smiled politely and held a shoebox and a carried a backpack. He ushered her into the living room and she put them down on the coffee table. 

“Thanks for having me,” she said. “I asked Peter if he wanted to come along too, but he said he was too busy. He’s in the middle of studying for finals and he’s trying to find a summer job, so you know…” 

“He could come work for me,” Tony offered. “I could give him a paid internship.”

May’s smile was tight and her eyes crinkled. “I’ll be sure to tell him you offered.” 

Tony didn’t expect to hear a follow up to that. 

“So, what do you got for me?” He decided it was safer to change the subject instead. 

“Well,” May kneeled down in front of the coffee table and flipped open the lid of the shoe box. “I figured… since Peter has been really quiet lately, this might help you feel like you’re getting to know him better.” 

She pulled out stacks of photos. Then she unzipped the backpack and pulled out photo albums and homemade CDs labeled with sharpies. 

“This is pretty much everything in the apartment I could find of him, minus everything already hung up. I figured you might want to take a look.” 

Tony scanned the loose photos over the table. They featured Peter at all ages, smiling wide with no front teeth, sitting in a booster seat with his face covered in sauce and bowl on his head, petting a goat at a petting zoo and laughing with his head back. His eyes watered. He looked back to May. 

“Why are you doing this for me?” 

May looked sympathetic. “You’re his father, you deserve to see these.” 

“But I wasn’t there for any of this,” he argued. 

“Yeah, but that wasn’t your fault,” May explained. “And I can tell… you wish you were.” 

Tony nodded weakly. He didn’t even want to try to hide it. He wished he was there for these parts of Peter’s life so badly it ached. But he knew May did a better job raising him than he ever could. 

“Come,” May gestured him down on the floor with her. “I’ll show you his awkward stage too, but don’t tell him I said that.” 

They spent the next couple of hours sitting through photos and flipping through photo albums. They relocated to the couch eventually, leaning comfortably back, and May would laugh loudly whenever a picture would invoke a particularly strong memory and continue to retell it. Tony would train his eyes on each picture as he listened to her speak, trying to imagine it in his head and pretend that he was actually there. 

When they exhausted all of the photos, May picked up the CDs. 

“We have some home videos too,” she said. “If you want to watch them.” 

“Yes,” Tony said quickly, his heart filled with every new thing he could learn about Peter’s childhood. “Here, I’ll put it in…” 

After minimal setup, he leaned back onto the couch as the static shifted to an outdated image with the date on the bottom corner: May 26, 2003. 

A two year old Peter was on the screen, three years before his mother and stepfather died. He could tell that Mary was the one recording. 

“Peter,” her soft and melodic voice came from behind the camera. “Where’s Daddy?” 

Peter looked around by swiveling at his hips, fingers in his mouth. He spotted Richard Parker standing in the corner behind him. He pointed at him with a chubby hand. “Da!” 

Mary laughed. “Is that your new Daddy?” 

“Yeah,” Peter responded. 

“Good job!” Mary said in a high-pitched voice. “Can you give Daddy a hug?” 

Peter looked back at Richard questioningly. The man crouched down and spread his arms out. “Come ‘ere, Petey.” 

Peter ran over with the  _ pat, pat, pat  _ of his small, bare feet against the hardwood. The hug was just bopping his head into Richard’s chest while the man wrapped his arms around Peter loosely. It was an adorable sight, and it made Tony’s chest ache. 

May looked over to him sadly. “Maybe we should fast forward a little…” 

She grabbed the remote and skipped forward to 2008. A now seven year old Peter was on a hiking trail and striking a heroic pose while who must be Ben was standing next to him smiling. 

“Okay, I’m recording!” May’s voice came from behind the camera. 

“Ready?” Peter asked. “Okay! I’m gonna climb that big rock really fast!” 

He pointed behind him to a decently large rock jutting out just beyond the path. 

“Okay, let’s see it!” 

Peter ran up to the bottom of the rock and began inspecting it for the best starting point. 

“Ben, stand right below him in case he falls,” May instructed and the man nodded and sauntered over to where Peter already began climbing. 

It wasn’t a hard climb. To a little kid, it was have seen like a momentous achievement, but it really wasn’t that high and there were plenty of easy places to grab purchase and hoist yourself up. It was nothing like the skyscrapers he would be scaling in a few years, but Tony could see where he got his first taste for it. 

When he made it to the top, he stood tall and raised his fists in the air. 

“Yeah!” he cheered. “I did it!” 

“Good job, sweetie!” May called at the same time Ben said “Look at you, buddy.” 

He looked over to May. Her eyes were concentrated on Ben’s figure on the screen. It was like they were both looking back at a past they longed to be part of. 

But he couldn’t go back, no matter how much he wanted to. They were both stuck here on this couch, watching reruns of long gone memories, wishing they knew what was there for them at the time. 

 

* * *

 

Two days after May visited, she called him again. 

“I’m with Peter right now,” she explained. “He wants to talk to you.” 

Tony felt himself start to panic. He couldn’t read the situation by the tone of May’s voice, he had no time to prepare, and he had no idea what Peter wanted to say. 

“Okay,” was all he said. 

He could hear the sound of the phone shuffling from one hand to another and he waited in breathless anticipation until he heard Peter’s voice. 

“Hello.” 

Tony closed his eyes. He sounded so timid yet so sure of himself in that uniquely Peter way that made his heart clench. 

“Hey, kid,” he tried to sound light-hearted. 

Peter made a sound that he wasn’t sure was out of annoyance or humor. “May explained… the situation to me.” 

“Oh?” 

“Yeah, and… I’d like,” Peter took a deep breath. “I’d like to get a DNA test.”

Tony paused. He wasn’t expecting that at all. He remembered wanting one at the beginning, but after a while Peter just seemed so undoubtedly his son that he completely forgot about that even being an option. 

“Oh, I… yeah I guess we can…” 

“It’s just that,” Peter continued. “I mean, May just took my mom’s word for it, and you took May’s word for it. And word is all well and good, but it’s not a perfect science. And we have a scientific way to settle this.” 

It sounded to Tony like Peter didn’t want to believe that he was really his son. Like he was hoping that, maybe, a DNA test would prove that this was all a big mistake. 

“I… yeah, I mean… yeah. We can do that. When do you want to do that?” 

“Well, I was looking it up and we can order one online and get it by, like, next week…” 

“No, no,” Tony waved his hand. “Let’s not waste our time with that commercial garbage, it takes weeks to get the results to those. I can easily have FRIDAY confirm the data in seconds.” 

“Oh,” Peter replied in a small voice. “Then I guess, as soon as possible?” 

Tony expected that. “Yeah, sure. I’m always available, whenever you’re ready.”    
  
“Okay… is tomorrow good?” 

_ Tomorrow. _ So soon. 

“Yeah, of course,” Tony responded. “Sounds perfect.”

 

* * *

 

Tony was in a flurry, inexplicably organizing his lab for Peter’s arrival even though he had seen it before. 

He hadn’t gotten any sleep last night. He had tried at first at Pepper’s insistence, but after tossing and turning for a few hours while she slept soundly, he finally gave up pretending and snuck into the lab to make sure everything was ready for the five hundredth time. 

Really, there was nothing to prepare for. All he had to do was scan a swab or both of their DNA and FRIDAY would do the rest, it was hardly worth spending hours setting up. But Tony found himself checking and double checking and triple checking over and over again like some sort of obsessive broken record. He couldn’t help it, he just needed something for his nerves to do. 

Pepper walked in on him at around 8 in the morning. She sighed in exhausted acceptance and walked over to him to grab his hands and stop them from their nonstop movement. The sudden stillness was jarring, and Tony stared at her in surprise. 

She kissed his knuckles. “Come on, best and worst scenario,” she said. 

Tony sighed and rolled his eyes slightly. This was something his therapist had recommended, and Pepper had ran with it. Apparently he had the tendency to ‘blow things out of proportion.’ 

“Okay, let’s see, best scenario,” Tony played along. “Peter and I are a match, Peter realizes that I’m his real father and for some reason is totally okay with that, and we go out and play a game of catch and talk about life and maybe I call him ‘sport,’ haven’t decided yet.” 

Pepper opens her mouth to say something along the lines of  _ please take this seriously _ but Tony keeps talking. 

“Worst scenario,” he continues. “I don’t know, it’s a toss up. Either we’re a match and he hates me for abandoning him and never talks to me again, or… we’re not a match at all, and everything I’ve built up in my head over the past few months has been a complete lie.” 

Pepper gave him a shocked look. “Oh Tony, you can’t really think…” 

“I have to entertain the possibility,” Tony shrugged. “Peter’s right. There is no scientific evidence to support the claim, only hypotheses. And the only people who would know for sure… one of them is dead and one of them can’t remember a damn thing from that night.” 

Tony shook his head. “I’ve been trying to remember her, Pep. But I have no idea what she looked like. You would think that if we ended up…  creating a  _ baby  _ that the memory would stand out more. But I’m really at a loss. What if… what if she was lying? Or what if she just  _ thought  _ it was me? I don’t know… the more I think about it, the more I question…” 

“Tony, you said it yourself,” Pepper rubbed up and down his arms comfortingly. “He’s just like you. You have nothing to worry about.” 

Tony raised his eyebrows but said nothing. He had several somethings to worry about but he didn’t want to continue the conversation with Pepper, it would only keep spiraling in circles. So he pretended to accept her words and did his best to look like he was fine and not unraveling on the inside. 

It was almost a relief when Peter and May finally showed up, because he didn’t have to  _ wait  _ anymore. However, once he saw how distant and emotionless Peter was acting, his heart immediately started pounding again. 

He’d never seen Peter so expressionless before. It was like he wasn’t even the same person. His face looked schooled and despondent, his stature stiff. May fretted around him like she was trying to make up for his lack of movement. He didn’t so much as nod in greeting when he entered the mansion, just trailed silently behind May like a ghost as he let her do all the talking. 

“Sorry we’re late, you wouldn’t believe the traffic,” May laughed like there was no tension in the room. “Peter’s a little tired today, so I hope you’ll excuse him. He was up so late patrolling.”

Tony could see straight through her thinly veiled lie. He might not be actively spying on Peter through his suit anymore, but he could still see his logged hours, and he hasn’t activated the suit since the story broke. But he appreciated May’s attempt to make excuses for Peter’s being closed off.

Pepper slipped past Tony and held out her hand. 

“Hi, I’m Pepper,” she introduced herself. “Sorry to be meeting like this.” 

“May,” May took her hand and shook it. “It’s so nice to meet you.” 

“Likewise,” Pepper smiled widely. “Anyone who can keep Tony in line is impressive in my book. You’re quite the tour-de-force.” 

“Oh,” May laughed. “Thank you, I guess.” 

Peter watched everyone exchange pleasantries with an annoyed expression. Tony studied him. It was clear he just wanted to cut to the chase, and he was resolutely ignoring making eye contact with Tony. 

“Alright well,” Tony interrupted, clapping his hands. “Let’s get this show on the road, shall we?” 

Pepper and May looked at him. Peter looked at the floor. 

“Yeah, let’s go,” May said uncertainly, looking back and forth between Peter and Tony. He wondered if she was having the same sudden doubts as him. 

Tony brought them down to the lab with little fanfare. Usually he liked to show it off, but Peter and Pepper had already seen it and May didn’t need the theatrics. He just went straight to the table where he set everything up. 

“So, this is gonna be super fast,” Tony explained with more gusto than he felt. “We will each just take a swab from our cheeks…” he picked up the two q-tips he left conveniently on the table and handed one to Peter. “And place them right in here,” he gestured to the scanner. “FRIDAY will read the samples, and within seconds she will be able to determine the data.” 

Peter nodded, staring resolutely at the scanner. He looked kind of like he was about to throw up, which probably wasn’t much better than Tony. His stomach twisted itself into knots as he raised the q-tip. 

“Ready?” he asked. 

Peter finally looked up at him for the first time since he walked in. It was brief eye contact, and he nodded, and looked away again. But it filled Tony with a last burst of courage. 

They both swabbed the inside of their cheeks and placed the q-tips on the scanner. It slid shut. 

“Okay, FRIDAY?” 

“Scanning the samples, boss,” FRIDAY responded. 

The few seconds it took for the scan to complete felt like an eternity. Pepper discreetly grabbed his hand and gave it a squeeze. Tony could see May do the same to Peter. 

“Data concluded, boss,” FRIDAY said. “Would you like the hear the results now?” 

Tony risked a quick glance at Peter. “Yes.” 

“DNA is a match.” 

Tony let out a breath he wasn’t even aware he was holding. It was official. Peter was  _ officially  _ his son. There was no disputing it anymore. It was like a weight was lifted off his chest. 

Peter, on the other hand, visibly stiffened when he heard the results. Tony turned to him. 

“So, uh, looks like that’s that,” he said. “Unless you wanna, like, double check or anything, but I can assure you that FRIDAY has—”

“No, that’s okay,” Peter interrupted. 

“Alright.” 

The three adults shared looks that said  _ what now? _

“So, uh,” Tony began. “Would you two, uh, like to stay for lunch?”

Peter stared at the results steadily and didn’t respond. Tony couldn’t make out what he was thinking, but he exchanged a concerned look with May. 

“Peter?” May asked hesitantly. “What do you think?” 

Peter seemed to snap out of his stupor. 

“Oh, um,” he blinked for a few seconds. “No, uh… I’d rather just go back home, if that’s okay…” 

“Oh,” Tony tried to hide his disappointment. “Yeah, of course.” 

He ushered everyone out of the lab just as quickly and unceremoniously as he brought them in. He tried to mask his hurt with over exaggerated flourishes and forced jokes. He wasn’t sure if it worked, but Peter left all the same. 

May turned around and mouthed an apology before they left, followed by a hand gesture that Tony understood to mean that she’d call him later. 

As soon as the door was closed, he dropped the act and turned to Pepper. She smiled at him half-heartedly. 

“Well, now you know he’s really your son,” she said, always looking on the bright side. 

Tony deflated, and Pepper was there to grab him and hold him together long enough to get him to a couch—the couch they were on when he first told her that Peter was his son. She guided him to lie down on it, then took off her heels and joined him. She fit into all his empty spaces. He held her tightly, staring at the ceiling and thinking. Just thinking. 

His thoughts weren’t organized or coherent, just a jumbled mess of  _ Peter _ and  _ I messed up  _ and  _ will he ever forgive me?  _

He was finally in May’s good graces, but what good did that do him if he was out of Peter’s? He was hard to read in the lab, but one thing was for certain: he wasn’t happy. He didn’t  _ want  _ Tony as a father. 

Tony tried to mentally prepare himself for this moment as much as possible. He  _ knew  _ it was inevitable, he knew there was no way Peter would be in any way happy about this. But his damn imagination had other ideas. No matter what, he couldn’t help but get his hopes up that maybe…

But no. Of course not. It was a pipe dream, and it was time for Tony to wake up to reality. He was used to losing people, this was just one more. It would hurt but he would just pretend everything was fine until eventually he believed it himself and it would be locked up in the back of his mind with the rest of his traumatic experiences that he forced himself not to think about. 

“Tony?” Pepper asked after they had been silent for a while. “Do you want to talk about it?” 

“No,” Tony shook his head, still staring at the ceiling. “I’m totally fine. Never been better.” Which, of course, was Tony-speak for  _ I’ve never been worse in my entire life.  _

Pepper knew it, and he knew it, but neither of them said anything. Instead, Pepper nestled her head back on his shoulder and squeezed him tightly. Her hand found his hair and it carded through it gently. He forced his eyes to close. All of the sleepless nights were catching up with him, and he felt himself drifting off. He didn’t want to sleep, not when he was feeling like his chest was a cavernous pit, but it seemed his mind had other plans. Like it or not, he dozed off to the sensation of a hand running through his hair and the thought that he failed Peter as a father.

In his sleep, he dreamt that he looked in the mirror and saw the face of Howard Stark staring back at him. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This fic is really getting in my head. I had a dream the other night that I found out my dad wasn't my real dad and this random guy showed up and said he was my father. And man, was it disorienting. I really feel for Peter lol


	10. Chapter 10

Things went back to the way they were, which meant Peter went back to not speaking to Tony. 

May gave him fairly frequent updates on how Peter was doing through text, which he appreciated, but it wasn’t the same as being there in person. He was trying to give them space again, but it was killing him. How come teenagers always wanted so much space? 

He spent most of his time between updates designing suits. Not for himself, but for Peter. He knew he would probably never give any of them to him, but he felt compelled to make them anyways. It was the only way he could feel like he was doing something for him, besides continuing to give him space, which, fuck that. 

It continued like that for a whole week. He did what he did best and tinkered while Pepper, Rhodey, and Happy did their absolute best to pull him away from it and make sure he was routinely eating, sleeping, and socializing. (Which, he wasn’t, but it was the effort on their part that counted.) He hardly spent more than an hour away from his lab. Between the heavy bags under his eyes, the greasiness of his hair, and the oil stains that seemed to be perpetually clinging to his clothes and skin, it certainly showed. But that was pretty much per usual lately, so anyone else besides the three friends who knew his secret would notice anything amiss. 

After a few arguments, Pepper ended up caving and making a statement on behalf of the company addressing the rumors. It was one of those vague statements that didn’t really admit to one thing or the other. Just that they had no comment, the rumors had no footing, and to  _ please be respectful and offer both parties privacy _ , yada yada. The usual corporate bullshit. 

It honestly just spurred the rumors forward more. Not outright denying it was basically the same as admitting it. 

Pepper told him to avoid the spotlight for a while, but that wasn’t really an issue since he wasn’t leaving his lab ever anyways. When he  _ was  _ forcibly removed from the mansion, it was usually to go somewhere discreet and private. 

Everyone kept looking at him like they pitied him and it was really getting on his nerves. He didn’t need anyone’s pity. He didn’t need pity when he flew a nuke into space, or when he found out his friend had kept his parents’ murder a secret from him, or when all his friends left him to the mercy of the government to side with the star spangled war criminal, so he sure as hell didn’t need it now either. It only made him push people further away because he couldn’t stand their stupid sad faces and sympathizing words. Why couldn’t they understand that he  _ didn’t want to talk about it?  _

So he started making himself scarce whenever one of them showed up at his place uninvited to force him to go out or try to wrangle him into talking about  _ feelings _ or taking a nap. Then after a while he just told FRIDAY to tell them he was gone every time someone was at the door. 

Which is why he was so annoyed when FRIDAY alerted him that he had a guest while he was working in the lab.

“FRIDAY, for God’s sake, what did I tell you? Don’t tell me, just send them away. Don’t make me reprogram you manually.” 

“But boss, it’s Mr. Parker.” 

Tony stopped what he was doing. 

“Wait, what?” 

“Was that question literal or rhetorical?” 

“No, no, I heard you,” Tony swatted his hand. “But  _ why  _ is he here?”

“I guess you’ll have to ask him that yourself,” FRIDAY replied. “Would you like me to let him in?”

“What? Yes, of course let him in. What, are you crazy, he’s still outside? Tell him to wait in the foyer, I’ll be right up.” 

Tony wiped the grease off his hands with a dirty rag, meticulously trying to scratch it out from under his nails. He didn’t want to keep Peter waiting, but he couldn’t deny his heart felt like it was beating out of his chest. He had no warning, and he didn’t know what to expect. He needed to give himself time to mentally prepare himself. 

He checked himself out in the mirror. Damn, he looked like a mess, but what could be done? The kid apparently didn’t have enough etiquette to let a guy know in advance that he was coming so he could take a shower or something. He swapped out his shirt for another relatively clean one lying around and splashed some water on his face. It would have to be good enough. 

When he got to the foyer, Peter was waiting patiently with his backpack on the floor, leaning against the wall and looking around the space curiously. When he saw Tony, his eyes widened.

“Mr. Stark,” he pushed off the wall. “Or, uh… I guess it’s kind of weird to call you that? Now that you’re… anyways…” He shook his head. “Sorry I didn’t tell you I was coming, I just kind of… decided to come on impulse. I hope you’re not busy?” 

He paused and waited for Tony to respond.

“Oh, of course not,” Tony answered hastily. “I can always make time for you.”

Peter’s face turned red and he looked at the floor. “Well, uh, I was just kind of hoping we could talk? About, you know…” 

Tony felt his chest tighten nervously. “Yes, yes, of course. Do you wanna sit?” 

He gestured Peter into the sitting room. They both sat down on opposite couches from each other and Peter placed his backpack on the floor in front of him. His fingers automatically went to the straps, twisting and tugging at them anxiously. 

“Okay, um,” Peter began quietly. “I don’t really have anything planned, I just figured it was time to stop ignoring you and actually talk about it. So I’m gonna say how I feel. And then maybe we can work something out.” 

Tony nodded. 

“I don’t hate you,” Peter started, and looked meaningfully up at him like he knew that was the number one question on his mind. “And I’m not mad that you’re my dad. I’m just… mad that no one told me.” 

He looked back down at his backpack. “And I  _ know  _ that you were just doing what Aunt May told you to do, she explained everything to me, but I just wish I didn’t find out the way I had. And I guess… it was just easier to be mad at you than Aunt May.” 

Tony had figured that much, but he didn’t expect Peter to say that he didn’t hate him. He felt like he should. 

Peter took a deep breath. “But I  _ am _ mad at Aunt May too, and I’m still working on forgiving her, but we’ve had a lot of time to talk so it’s helped. So I figured if I talked it out with you too, I wouldn’t feel so angry at you.” 

Tony nodded again. That was understandable, he honestly expected Peter to be a lot more angry than he was. But the kid was full of surprises. 

“And… I guess… I already started seeing you as a father figure anyways,” Peter mumbled, embarrassed. “So it almost  _ made sense _ that you ended up being my actual dad. But it was so… unexpected. I never even thought that I would meet him, much less that he would end up being  _ Iron Man. _ That’s literally like… a kid’s biggest fantasy.” 

Tony had a hard time hearing anything beyond  _ I already started seeing you as a father figure _ . 

Peter laughed humorlessly. “You know, it’s like my whole life, being my parent has been cursed or something. I lost my mom, I lost my stepdad, I lost my uncle, and I thought I lost my biological dad before I even got to meet him. Aunt May was all I had left. So the fact that this whole time my dad has been  _ Tony Stark _ , and was even  _ mentoring me personally _ , and no one told me… yeah, it made me really mad.” 

“Uh,” Tony finally found his voice. “I’m sorry, can we backtrack for a sec? You saw me as a father figure?” 

Peter’s lips quirked, which was the closest thing to a smile Tony had seen on him since their day trip to the museum. 

“Uh, of course? My favorite superhero swooped into my life, took me to Germany, gave me a badass suit, and started sorta mentoring me? I just lost my uncle, it was kind of hard not to.” 

“ _ Sort of _ mentoring?” 

“Well, you did a kind of bad job at it.” 

“Hey,” Tony said, pseudo-offended, but he was smiling. 

“But anyways, what I really came here for was to hear from you,” Peter said, getting back to business. “I’m willing to hear your side of the story. It couldn't just be me, right? I mean, seeing you as a father figure. When you came to my apartment the first time, was that just for Spider-Man, or did you see something in me?  _ Me, _ Peter Parker, the kid from Queens.” 

Tony said nothing, just stared at him. It broke his heart that Peter could even think he meant nothing more to Tony than what he could offer as Spider-Man. But he would be lying if he said that he imagined finding anything more than a convenient ally that first day. Of course, he grew attached to Peter before May even told him that he was his son. That was just the effect that Peter had on people. Or maybe he subconsciously recognized that he was his son before he was even told. Did things like that happen? 

He still hadn’t responded to the question and Peter stared at him blankly. He quirked an eyebrow that was definitely all Stark sass. 

“So? Do you have anything to say to me?” he asked, gesturing to Tony to speak. 

“Of course,” he replied as if he didn’t just take a minute long pause to think about the answer. “I’m going to be honest with you, because I’ve lied to you for too long and I want to set the record straight. Truthfully, it may have been Spider-Man that I took to Germany, but I didn’t take the guy in the blue and red tights to the science museum. I took  _ you. _ ” 

Peter looked disappointed. “Yeah, but was that just because you felt guilty? Like you had to make it up to me?” 

“No,” Tony said immediately. “Maybe when I first found out, I acted out of guilt. But after a while it was because I wanted to know you. Yes, _ you,  _ Peter. Don’t ever doubt for a second that I don’t care about you. If you think that I did any of this because I don’t care, you’re wrong. I never got the chance to raise you, and I’ll regret that every day. But I was given a second chance. I messed it up, I know that, and I’m sorry that your aunt and I weren’t upfront with you. But it’s not because I don’t love you. Quite the opposite, in fact. Honestly, I’d been terrified to tell you because I didn’t want you to be disappointed that it was me.” 

It was out there. He finally said his piece to Peter and now he knew. His cards were out on the table and it was up to Peter how to respond. And no matter how he responded, Tony would support it because it was his decision and at least now he knew how Tony felt. He wouldn’t have to live with the guilt of never at least telling Peter that he was loved.

Peter’s expression was profound and indecipherable. He stared at Tony with those big brown eyes unblinking and lower lip trembling. It took him a moment to break out of his trance and when he did, he looked down at his backpack, once again fidgeting with the frayed straps. 

“I, um,” he began. “I was just wondering… if you… if you knew about me when I was born… do you… do you think you would have kept me?” 

Tony sucked in a breath. It was a big question, and one that he’d wrestled with since finding out. Would he have? He’d like to think he would, but he thinks back to Maya when she had joked to him that she had his son waiting in the car and his automatic response had been to gag. It had been a joke, though, hadn’t it? If she really did have a son, would he have gone out to meet him? If Mary’s letter had reached him, would he have agreed to raise him? 

“I think so,” he responded, probably not as confidently as Peter would have liked. “I mean, I can’t say for sure, I was a lot more irresponsible back then, but I think I would. I might have been a douche, but I wasn’t a complete asshole. If someone told me they had my kid, I would have manned up and done the responsible thing. And I would’ve been a lot luckier knowing you your whole life, that’s for sure.”

Peter weakly smiled. They were both silent after that. It was awkward and tense and it felt like they were waiting for the other to talk, but neither of them said anything. Tony wondered if there was something he was  _ supposed  _ to say.

“I, uh, I have something for you,” Peter said suddenly, breaking the silence and reaching into his backpack to pull out a worn folder. It practically couldn’t even be called a folder anymore. The crease was split halfway down the middle, it was bent and ripped and frayed at every corner and it was holding way too many papers than it could reasonably hold. But Peter seemed unbothered by it, pulling out a piece of paper from between the giant stack. 

“This past week I’ve been doing a lot of digging into my childhood. Just looking for answers, I guess… looking for anything that would make this new information make sense. And I found this…” 

He handed the paper to Tony. It was thin and yellowing, clearly old. On it, a crayon drawing by a child. It was of him as Iron Man. A crude rendition of New York was in the background and he stood proudly in front of it, with what looked like rays of light beaming off his armor. Behind him, a crowd of stick people were cheering. 

“I totally forgot I drew that,” Peter explained. “It was right after the battle of New York. I saw you on the news… I saw you put that nuke through the wormhole and save the day. You were my hero.” 

The hand that was holding the drawing shook and Tony tried to steady it. His heart raced but it wasn’t a panic attack he felt coming on. 

“That day… I was at home with my aunt and uncle. We weren’t in Manhattan but we could see the battle from our window. We could see the aliens pouring from the sky and hear the explosions. Aunt May and Uncle Ben took me to my room and they closed the curtains and hugged me on the bed. They were scared and it made me scared because I’d never seen them like that before. But you saved us. You saved everyone.” 

Tears welled up in Tony’s eyes and he could no longer hold the paper. He put it down on the coffee table before he dropped it and looked up at Peter. 

“If I had known then that you were my dad… I would have been really proud.”

His unspoken words made Tony wonder,  _ is he still proud of me now? _

He wanted to say something back, but the silence between them felt too precious, and he was afraid if he spoke up, he would lose all composure. So they stayed in the fragile, tense quiet for a few minutes, the only sound being Tony’s heavy breathing as he tried to get his swelling emotions under control. Peter looked around and pretended he didn’t notice the tears out of politeness. 

“Anyways, I should get going,” he finally said, standing up. 

“Wait, already?” Tony panicked, his shock overriding his previous emotions. They finally had a breakthrough after a week of no communication, he wanted him to stay longer. “Please don’t tell me we’re going to go back to the whole ignoring thing. I can’t handle another day of that. I’m not good at not talking.” 

Peter snorted. “I’ve noticed.” 

“So you’ll come back? Call me? Give me something, kid. I need to know where we’re at.” 

Peter gave him a small smile. “I’ll stay in touch. We can, uh, maybe me, you, and May can do something one of these days. And Pepper too, if she wants. I just… I need some space right now, but I promise I’ll call you soon.” 

_ Space,  _ Tony’s least favorite word for several reasons. But it was the closest thing to acceptance that he’s gotten from Peter so far, and he absolutely beamed from it. 

“That would be great,” he said. “More than great. Amazing. Perfect. Thanks, Peter. For coming here, for this drawing… for everything.” 

“It’s no problem. I guess if you’re my dad, we should get to know each other a little better? God, that sounds so weird…” 

“Trust me, kid, I know. I’m still adjusting to it.” 

Peter laughed softly. “So I’ll see you later?” 

“You bet. Oh, and one more thing,” Tony held up his hand before Peter could turn around. “Uh, Pepper is getting a little antsy about this whole media fiasco. She wants me to make a personal statement about the rumors. But I didn’t feel right about doing it without you consenting to it first. So what do you think? Do you want me to tell them you’re my son? Or would you like me to deny it so you get a little more privacy?” 

Peter looked at him quizzically. “That’s… really considerate of you. Thank you.” 

Tony furrowed his eyebrows. “It’s nothing. Like I said before: douche, but not asshole.” 

Peter looked oddly touched. “Yeah, I… would you mind denying them? Not to like… I don’t want you to think I’m embarrassed by it or anything. But just, uh… the attention is a little much, the other kids at school won’t stop harassing me about it and I haven’t been able to go out as Spider-Man for a while because all these people with cameras are everywhere. I can see now why you just told people you were Iron Man…” 

“Yeah, the celebrity life can be a bit overwhelming if you’re a superhero with a secret identity.” 

“Yeah, yeah…” 

“Don’t worry, Pete. I’ll get it squared away for you. I’ll tell them you’re just a super special intern that I was rewarding with a day out. Some people might not buy it, but the rumors will probably die off in a few weeks without substantial evidence to claim otherwise.” 

Peter smiled. “Thanks, Mr. Stark. Uh, or…” 

“Tony,” he said. “How about you call me Tony for now? It’s a little less formal.”

Peter smiled in appreciation at the compromise, neither of them addressing the  _ for now _ . 

“Yeah, Tony… okay…” 

Peter hovered by the doorway, considering his next action. Hesitantly, he walked back towards Tony. 

“Uh…” 

He awkwardly leaned forward and wrapped his arms around Tony. Caught off guard, Tony paused before slowly raising his arms and hugging him back. Peter lingered for a moment, pressing his head into Tony’s chest and arms tightening around his middle. Tony held Peter tighter and ran his hand up and down his shoulder.

Peter pulled away loosely and peered up at Tony with an embarrassed grin. “That was a hug, just so you know.” 

“Yeah, I think we’ve reached that level by now,” Tony responded with a matching grin. 

 

* * *

 

Later that week, Tony was at a press conference organized by Pepper, with about two hundred reporters flashing cameras in his face. 

He stood up at the podium with shaking hands and notes laid out for him. He could see Pepper in the back next to Rhodey and Happy, giving him the thumbs up. 

“I, uh, I’d like to address a vicious rumor that’s been making the rounds in the press recently,” he began, the clicking sounds of cameras and pens on paper growing more furious. “Regarding a certain Mr. Parker and his relation to me. I would like to personally deny those rumors. They are not true and frankly, where is your journalistic integrity? You see pictures of me taking a random kid to the museum and suddenly he’s my son?” 

He could see Pepper put her face in her hands. He had gone slightly off script. 

“Mr. Parker is simply my intern,” he continued back on script. “And my top one at that. He’s extremely talented, and so he caught my attention. I thought I’d treat him to a little day trip to bounce ideas off each other and see firsthand what he was capable of. That is all. These rumors have been severely damaging to the Parker family and so I implore you to give them space and privacy as they have no further connection to me.” 

The floor broke out in noise as reporters jumped up with questions. 

“Mr. Stark, why did it take you so long to make a public statement?” 

“What made him catch your attention?” 

“Why have you never given any of your other interns the same treatment before? What made him stand out?”

“Our records show that you also took Mr. Parker to Germany four months ago. How far back does this relationship go?” 

“Okay, okay, settle down,” Tony motioned with his hands. “Due to company policy and intern confidentiality, I cannot answer any more questions on behalf of Mr. Parker. I can, however, say that I waited to make a public statement in respects to the Parker family. We came to the decision together to go public with this statement when the rumors continued to grow out of hand.”

“Where is Mr. Parker now?” 

“Not here, as he is a minor and not personally linked to me.” 

Another surge of questions roared through the room but Pepper stepped up to the podium and pushed Tony behind her. 

“Okay, that’s enough questions,” she announced. “Thank you for coming, everyone. Tony is going to take his leave now.” 

She nodded at Tony and he nodded back, walking offstage. He went into the back room as Happy called his staff to begin escorting the reporters out. He listened to the commotion as he sat down on a bench and took deep breaths. He kneaded his palm to get it to stop shaking. 

Once the sound of hundreds of voices and shuffling feet finally vanished, his friends opened the door to join him. 

“How are you doing?” Pepper asked first. 

“Better than I’ve been in a long time,” Tony answered truthfully. “How’d I do?” 

“Good,” Pepper pursed her lips to inevitably keep herself from giving him any constructive criticism as she usually did. “Hopefully it’s enough to get these rumors to end.” 

“It better be,” Tony grumbled. 

“Give it a week,” Rhodey patted him on the shoulder. “It will be old news by then.” 

Tony shot his friend a smile. Despite how much he had pushed them away in the past week, he really was grateful to have their support. He didn’t know what he would do without them. 

“Hey, it’s over now,” Happy assured him. “The worst is behind you now.” 

“Yeah,” Tony agreed. It felt like it was. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Note that there's a set amount of chapters now. This story is almost over... the last chapter will be an epilogue. 
> 
> Thanks for continuing to read and comment! This is officially my longest fic yet and I honestly don't know how I'm still motivating myself to write it haha but even if I don't respond to your comment, I read every single one and they all make me smile! So thank you so much!
> 
> Also, I made cover art for the playlist: https://open.spotify.com/user/85q3bgs309hbhpk3gy05kzr4w/playlist/0t231uZBFsORBFTHmF0JzG?si=bscES24bQAiL53QdJABe6g  
> 


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> aaaaaaAAAAAAAHHHHHHH I don't know why, but this chapter almost killed me to finish. Why was the last chapter the hardest to write?

Tony hoped that after their talk, progress would happen rapidly, but Peter still kept his distance. It was better, in some ways. At least they were on speaking terms now. But he still seemed to tiptoe around Tony and cautiously regard him every time they were in the same room. 

Peter stayed true to his word and texted him later, asking him if he would like to come over for dinner. The invitation was extended to Pepper as well, and so they both found themselves at the Parker household on a Friday night eating homemade shepards pie at a table that clearly wasn’t suited to fit more than two people, maybe three if they touched elbows. 

May seemed embarrassed of her cooking, but Tony honestly couldn’t even remember the last time he had a full dinner. His bar was set pretty low, and even the slightly burned bottom didn’t deter him. It was better than anything he ever attempted to whip up. Most of the time, he just programmed his robots to make something for him or he ordered out. A home cooked meal, with all the effort and love that went into it, was a welcome change.

Pepper and May seemed to get along like old friends, immediately diving into small talk and asking about each other as if they were merely catching up. Pepper’s charisma never ceased to amaze Tony. She was always quick to make people feel comfortable and open up to her, even damaged people like himself who tried to hide behind an uncaring persona. She could see right through people, and maybe that’s what made her so good at getting them to like her. 

With the two women absorbed in conversation, Tony and Peter were left on the other side of the table in an awkward silence. There wasn’t even enough room to pretend to ignore each other. Tony felt like he should start his own conversation with him, but he wasn’t sure what to say, and Peter was pretending to be really engrossed in the ladies’ conversation about the benefits of investing in a really good statement bag. 

The dinner ended up being more about Pepper and May getting to know each other than Tony and Peter’s relationship mending. Tony was glad to see two important women in his life get along, but that wasn’t really the point. After they left, Pepper gave him a sympathetic look that he shrugged off.  _ What can you do? _ He just wanted to go home, maybe sleep, and just digest the disappointment of Peter’s silence. 

Which is why he was surprised when, the next morning, he woke up to a text from Peter. 

_ Sorry about last night, _ it read.  _ I’m just really nervous and in my head about all of this. I know this one fact shouldn’t change our whole relationship, but it’s just hard to wrap my head around. I miss the way things used to be, though. I’m working on getting better.  _

Tony smiled. Things were awkward. Really awkward. But he wasn’t alone in this and Peter was trying and that’s all that mattered. It made him hopeful that maybe someday they would have a normal relationship that he always yearned for with his own father and never quite got. 

Weeks passed without hearing much from either Peter or May and Tony did his best not to let it unnerve him. Peter still needed space to process, but it was better than before because now he knew that Peter didn’t hate him. He could be patient for him and let him sort things out. Sure, he missed him a lot, but he would manage. He hadn’t realized how much of his daily routine started to revolve around Peter since all those months ago when he picked him up and brought him to Germany, but looking back he realized all the little ways his life had changed since. 

But he still had his own life to live and a company to run and Ross breathing down his neck, so he let himself go on autopilot for a while and tried not to be stressed over Peter’s silence. 

It lasted for a good while, until one Wednesday afternoon he got an alert on his phone that distracted him from a meeting. 

He looked down at the screen and saw that the alert had been sent by FRIDAY. The AI was only authorized to push alerts through during scheduled meetings for emergencies only. A quick glance at the alert showed him that it was from a protocol activated by the spider suit AI (who Peter had lovingly dubbed Karen). 

He was up out of his seat in an instant. The shareholders in the meeting all looked up at Tony curiously and the speaker trailed off. He merely excused himself and gave a distracted flourish towards Pepper, who gave him a half-annoyed, half-confused look but let him walk out. 

Once he was in the hallway he opened the alert. It was a CODE RED: Injuries sustained. Tony swore and started fast walking. 

“FRIDAY, talk to me. What happened?” 

“My intelligence suggests that Mr. Parker was doing a routine post-school sweep of the city when he came across a mugging in an alleyway. He was stabbed three times: twice in the abdomen and once in the arm. No fatal arteries or organs were punctured but he has not managed to staunch the blood flow and is losing consciousness. Immediate medical attention is required.” 

The cold way that FRIDAY delivered such dire news made Tony shiver down to his core. He felt his mind go numb with shock, but  _ no, _ he had to stay focused. 

“Okay, FRIDAY, prep the on-staff medical team immediately. I need them ready for when I get back. I’m picking him up.”

“Yes, boss.” 

He made it to the rooftop and his armor immediately started encasing him. The panic started sinking in and he felt himself becoming short of breath.  _ Fuck, _ how did the kid let himself get stabbed multiple times? Weren’t his reflexes faster than that? 

“FRIDAY, call May,” he commanded as soon as he was in the air. 

His heart was in his throat as he waited for her to pick up, wondering what he would say. When she finally answered, he decided to get straight to the point: “Peter’s hurt.” 

“What?” 

“His AI sent me an alert that he was injured on duty. I’m picking him up now and taking him back to the compound for immediate medical attention. I’m sending Happy to come pick you up, where are you right now?”

“Oh, uh,” May sounded flustered and panicked. “I’m… I’m at work! Oh my god, is he going to be okay?” 

“He’s going to be fine,” Tony promised. Because  _ damn it, _ he would be. “But it looks like he’ll probably have to undergo surgery and he’ll probably want to see you as soon as he wakes up.” 

“Oh my god,” May took a deep breath. “Okay, okay. I’ll tell my boss I have to leave. Thank you, Tony.” 

“Don’t worry, I’ll make sure he’s safe,” Tony hung up. “FRIDAY, tell Happy to pick up Miss Parker at her place of work.”

“On it, Boss.” 

He was only about two minutes away from the touch point now (thank god his suit was fast… never mind that Ross was going to be up his ass for this later). He kept an eye on the vital reads from Karen. Peter was still losing blood and it looked like he was unconscious now. Without Tony’s protocols, how would he have managed to get out of this? How long until someone found him? Or worse… what if no one did? 

But Tony didn’t even want to think about that. He touched down right outside of the alleyway that FRIDAY directed him to. As soon as his thrusters were off, he was running. 

“Peter!” he shouted as he spotted a silhouetted form toward the back. He approached it carefully and knelt down. He turned him over so he was laying on his back and slowly peeled the mask off. Peter’s eyes were closed and his skin was pale. Blood soaked through the front of his suit and onto the pavement below. Tony lightly tapped his face and Peter groaned and opened his eyes. 

“Tony?” 

“Hey kid,” he replied, giving his injuries a quick once over to decide the best way to move him. “You’re gonna be okay, I’m here now.” 

“I’m sorry, Tony,” Peter choked up. “I froze again. They were mugging a guy and I thought about Uncle Ben… and I froze again.” 

Tony shushed him. “It’s okay, Peter. You did good. Did the victim get away?” 

“Yeah,” Peter muttered. “I distracted them and he ran away. But then I let them get away too.” 

“Well you saved someone’s life, and that’s all that matters,” Tony said. “Your Uncle Ben would be proud.” 

Peter let out a pained moan. Tony felt his heart grip in his chest and, screw it, he stuffed his arms under Peter’s back and legs. 

“This might hurt,” he warned before he lifted Peter off the ground. 

Peter let out a surprised gasp and a high-pitched noise that he would probably deny up and down under better circumstances. Tony held him close to his chest and Peter gripped at his armor with his good arm. Blood dripped steadily onto the dirt.

“I’m gonna get you back to the compound where you can get treated,” Tony explained before lifting off. 

He held on tightly to Peter and tried to ignore his pained sounds. He tucked his head under his chin—the most affection he could afford while tightly gripping him to make sure he didn’t fly out of his arms. 

Peter was going to be fine,  _ he was _ . His healing factor made him a pretty formidable foe to kill, but no one ever wanted to see their son bleeding from stab wounds. And Peter had gotten roughed up badly before, but  _ stabbed?  _ Because he  _ froze?  _ Tony was going to have to do something about that. 

Peter whimpered and tried to shift in his arms. 

“Peter, don’t move,” Tony warned. “We’re almost there.” 

“I’m sorry, Tony,” Peter repeated tearfully. 

“Don’t be sorry, you did great. We’ll get you patched up and back on the streets in no time.” 

“No,” Peter said in frustration. “Not just about… this. I’m sorry. For everything.” 

“What?” 

“You worry about me so much, and I’ve been ignoring you.” 

Tony pulled his chin away from Peter’s head to look down at him in surprise. He looked barely conscious but earnest. 

“It’s… kid, of course I worry about you. My son is running around Queens in spandex fighting crime. But I’ll keep worrying about you even if you decide to never talk to me again.” 

“I don’t want to do that,” Peter murmured, his eyes half closed. “I like talking to you.” 

Tony was glad for the mask, because he was pretty sure he was tearing up. “Thanks, kid. I like talking to you too.” 

Peter lost consciousness before they made it back to the compound. Tony landed on the rooftop landing pad and carried Peter to the medical wing in his suit. As soon as he was loaded onto a gurney and rushed off by nurses, he stepped out of the suit. 

“Where’s May Parker?” he immediately asked. 

“Arriving with Mr. Hogan in half an hour,” FRIDAY responded. 

“Great,” Tony slumped down in a chair and buried his face in his hands. He was glad he picked Peter up in his Iron Man suit, or else he would’ve gotten blood all over his clothes, which wouldn’t have been a huge issue but then he would’ve had to change before May arrived so she wouldn’t get freaked out and he was really too tired to do that. 

Besides, knowing your kid was going to be okay and feeling it were two different things. 

 

* * *

 

Tony heard May arrive before he saw her. The sound of her flats slapping against the linoleum and her panting gasps echoed down the hallway before she appeared, hair askew and eyes red. 

“Oh god, Tony,” she enveloped him in a crushing hug. It was unexpected, but he squeezed her back. “Where is he? Is he okay?” 

“He’s in surgery,” Tony explained. “The doctor will come get us when he’s done, but he’ll be fine. This type of thing is no match for his super healing.”

May teared up. “But he shouldn’t  _ need  _ his super healing to save him. He shouldn’t be getting hurt at all! What happened? Aren’t there protocols set up to prevent this?”

“My protocols can only do so much,” Tony said ruefully. “Unfortunately, they can't account for him freezing up mid-battle.”

“Freezing up?”

Tony screwed his face. “May, he… told me something the day we went to the museum. I probably should’ve told you sooner, but he talked to me about Ben. And… witnessing his death. I think he’s still dealing with some trauma from that. The crime he was stopping… it was a mugging, and I think it caused him to flashback to his uncle’s death.”

May cupped her hands to her mouth. She looked horrified, and Tony understood the feeling. 

“I think he needs help. Training, definitely. If he’s going to be out on the streets fighting crime, we can’t just rely on the suit and it’s protocols anymore. Luckily it was able to alert me as soon as he was hurt so that I could go get him, but like you said… that’s not enough. If he’ll allow me, I’d love to have him at the compound on a fairly regular schedule for training sessions.”

“Yeah,” May immediately agreed. “Yeah, I think he’d love that. And he needs it.”

Tony nodded. “And I think he could benefit from therapy too.” 

May seemed more hesitant about that. 

“I used to balk at the idea,” Tony quickly explained. “But some point after my house exploded and my obsession with building suits almost caused everyone I love to leave me, I realized that it’s actually really helpful. And I can help you find the best therapists in town and do a background check and everything. Peter won’t have to be afraid to talk about Spider-Man to them.” 

“Oh Tony,” May sounded apologetic. “That’s really thoughtful, but I don’t think we can really afford…” 

“Bah! Are you kidding me?” he interrupted. “I’d pay for everything!” 

“Tony…”

“What? I’m his father, I can pay for things if I want to. It’s my right to blow as much money as I want on my own kid.” 

May smiled. “That’s… thank you, Tony. We’d have to talk about it to Peter, but I think he’d be open to it.” 

“Good,” Tony nodded. “Because I’m not having him freeze up on the job like that again. The kid’s gonna give me a heart attack.” 

“Me and you both,” May agreed. 

They both took their seats in the hall and waited for a doctor to come out and offer them any news. Finally, after another hour, a woman in scrubs walked out and they both stood. 

“How is he?” May immediately asked. 

“He’s stable,” the doctor said, and Tony felt himself relax. Next to him, he saw May deflate too. “He’s asleep right now, but you two can go in to see him if you want. It would be good for him to wake up to people he knows. We don’t know how long the anesthetic will keep him under, but we’re assuming not for very long. He was burning through it in surgery. His super healing should patch him up in no time. I’d say in a week he should be good as new.” 

“Well, that’s good news,” Tony said, patting May on the back as she sighed in relief. “What do you say, May? Wanna go see Peter?” 

May gave him a small smile. “Yeah. Let’s go.” 

The room the doctor led them to was quiet, save for the sound of the heart monitor. It was unsettling. Tony was used to any room that Peter occupied being filled with endless chatter. It seemed unnatural to see Peter so still on the bed instead of his usual fidgeting. He was pale from blood loss and he looked so small. Tony remembered not for the first time that the Spider-Man suit somehow had the ability to make Peter look bigger and older. But times like this it became painfully clear how young he actually was. He probably hadn’t even finished growing yet. Tony wondered how tall he’d get.

He felt May’s hand on his shoulder and turned to look at her. 

“Let’s sit,” she said quietly, as if she would wake Peter if she spoke too loud. 

They both grabbed chairs by the window and dragged them to Peter’s bedside. May sat close to his head and ran her hand through his curls. Tony felt compelled to grab his hand but it felt out of line somehow. Even after their talk, he wasn’t sure if he had earned the right yet. 

May seemed to sense his internal debate and turned around to face him. With a smile she looked down at Peter’s hand and then back at Tony and nodded. Tony smiled back and reached for Peter’s hand. He gave it a soft squeeze. 

They waited in silence for a few minutes. May ran her thumb up and down Peter’s forehead while Tony loosely held his hand. When Peter showed no signs of waking up and the silence started to become stifling, May spoke up. 

“You know, I really had the wrong idea about you.” 

“What?”

She turned around and smiled at him. “You’re a really good father.” 

Tony blinked. “I, uh, I don’t think I’ve really done enough parenting to warrant that.” 

May laughed. “You just saved his life, I think that counts.” 

“Oh please. I would hardly call these life-threatening injuries, especially on Spider-Man. It didn’t even puncture any major arteries. Sure, getting stabbed is no walk in the park by any means, but he would have survived it.” 

“You know what I mean,” May looked at him sternly. “You and I both know that without your protocols, we would have no way of knowing he was hurt and he wouldn’t have been able to contact us until it was possibly too late. I shudder to even think about it, but it’s true. You saved him.” 

Tony’s expression sobered. 

“I know you don’t give yourself a lot of credit for what you’ve done for him,” May looked at him gravely. “But honestly, I don’t know if he would’ve survived this long without you. Your suit, your mentoring, your influence… I think it’s kept him alive. You might not see it, but I have. He looks up to you. He wants to be like you.” 

Tony looked at Peter.  _ I just wanted to be like you!  _ The words he spoke after the ferry incident rang in his head as clearly as the first time he heard it. 

“So everything you’ve done for him,” May concluded. “Yeah, it kind of makes you a good dad.” 

Tony looked back at May. He hoped the sincerity of his expression made up for his speechlessness. Her smile made him assume she heard the  _ ‘thank you’ _ loud and clear. 

They heard a groan and both of their attention snapped back to Peter. His eyes were screwed shut and then they were blinking open. May’s hand was immediately back in Peter’s hair. Tony realized he was still holding his hand and he wondered if he should pull away, but then he decided against it.

“Hey sweetie,” May cooed. “We’re here. You’re alright.” 

Peter blinked lazily and his eyes looked unfocused. He fixed them on his aunt, staring at her for a few seconds, then they trailed down to look at Tony, and then at the rest of the room. He seemed to come to a realization then, screwing his eyes back shut. 

“Ugh, sorry Aunt May,” he apologized, then added: “And Tony.” 

“It’s okay, it wasn’t your fault.” May said. 

Peter looked guilty. “But it was. I froze. I’m sorry.” 

“Don’t you dare apologize,” May said sternly. “You’re okay and that’s all that matters. But we’re not letting this happen again.” 

Peter opened his mouth to protest, probably something along the lines of  _ please don’t take the suit away again!  _ But Tony spoke up. 

“Training. You and me. We’re setting up a schedule and we’re sticking to it, bud. No more of this freezing up nonsense. It’s time someone around here taught you how to fight.” 

Peter’s jaw clicked shut. He stared at Tony, then at May, then back at Tony.

“... for real?”

“Do you have any objections?” 

Peter’s eyes widened. “N-no! That’s… that’s awesome! I would love that!” 

Tony smiled. He was relieved by Peter’s enthusiasm.

“This is so cool, I’m gonna be so badass.”

“Okay, slow down there, soldier,” May ruffled his hair. “Training begins  _ after  _ you’re fully healed.” 

Peter smiled. “I know, I know.” 

He squeezed Tony’s hand. 

 

* * *

 

Two weeks later saw Peter at the compound with a duffel bag, ready for his first training session. He was staying the weekend, which made Tony more ecstatic than he let on. Finally, he would get to use the room he put together for Peter all those months ago. 

He spent the past week preparing the compound and the training facilities for Peter’s arrival. He even made sure the pantry was fully stocked (growing teens needed lots of food) and set up a loose training schedule they could follow with some time built in for breaks and bonding time.  _ (“Bonding time?” Pepper snorted. “God, when did you turn into such a dad?”)  _

Tony couldn’t help it. This weekend might be for training, but that didn’t mean it couldn’t have the added benefit of hanging out with his son more. And if he was being honest, he was really excited that he found this as an excuse to spend more time with Peter. 

“Stop smiling to yourself, you look creepy,” Rhodey had chided him a few minutes before Peter arrived. 

“Oh pardon me, Colonel,” Tony responded sarcastically, smiling wider. “I didn’t mean to offend you with my happiness.” 

Rhodey laughed. “I’m kidding, man. It’s just strange to see you like this, I’m still getting used to it. Happy Tony, wow. Who would’ve imagined? It’s a good look on you, though.” 

“Gee, thanks. Now are you ready to meet the squirt?” 

“I’ve  _ been _ ready. Let’s do this. I’ve prepared a list of questions for him.”

Now Peter was in the foyer and Tony walked toward him with extended arms, Rhodey trailing behind. 

“Peter! Welcome back,” Tony patted Peter on his back and took his duffel bag from him. “I’d like you to meet my friend, Rhodey.” 

Peter’s eyes widened. “C-Colonel Rhodes,” he gaped. “War Machine. It’s an honor to meet you. You know, officially. Out of the suits.” 

He shook Rhodey’s hand vigorously. Rhodey looked amused. 

“It’s a pleasure to meet you as well. Tony has told me a lot about you.” 

Peter looked back at Tony like he couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Tony shrugged, a little embarrassed to admit how much he’s talked about Peter to his friend. 

“You were also quite impressive in Germany,” Rhodey continued. “I look forward to seeing your skills improve in training.” 

“A-are you gonna help train me?”

“Sometimes, yes,” Rhodey winked. “When I’m available.” 

“That’s so awesome! Iron Man and War Machine training me to be a superhero, oh my god.”

Tony laughed. “Alright, kid. Let’s take this bag up to your room.” He lifted the duffel in question. “Rhodey, wanna meet us in the gym?” 

“Sure thing,” Rhodey nodded before turning around. “Don’t think I’m forgetting about those questions though.”

“What does that mean?” Peter asked after Rhodey was down the hall.

“Don’t worry about it,” Tony responded.

He led Peter down the hall in the opposite direction. They walked past a row of doors leading to empty rooms, left behind by the ex-Avengers. They didn’t bother Tony so much anymore, though. He reached the door to Peter’s room and unlocked it. 

“Here we are,” he said as he swung the door open and allowed Peter inside. 

Peter’s jaw dropped and he walked inside slowly, head swiveling to take it all in. 

“You set all this up for me?” he asked. 

“Yep,” Tony replied as he plopped the duffel on his bed. 

He may have slightly personalized the room for Peter. Star Wars posters, Spider-Man merch, some of the photos that May had given him were framed and hung. A queen-sized bed (it was time he upgraded from a twin) was pushed up against one wall and a sixty-inch plasma TV adorned the other. 

“This is… above and beyond. Thank you, Tony. When did you put all of this together?” 

Tony scratched his nose. “Ahh… a while ago, actually.” 

Peter quirked his eyebrow. “Oh really? How long ago?”

“Maybe… around the time I offered you a spot on the Avengers and you turned it down?” 

“That  _ wasn’t a test!?”  _

“Of course it wasn’t a test! Jesus, Pete, what kind of weird test is that? But it’s okay, it was kind of hilarious that you thought it was.” 

Peter groaned and hid his face in his hands. “That’s so embarrassing.” 

“Hey, don’t worry about it,” Tony patted him on the back. “The room is being put to good use now, yeah? Besides, you wouldn’t believe how many rooms in the compound are completely unused.” 

Peter looked back up at Tony apologetically. “Really, thank you so much Tony, for putting all of this together for me.” 

Tony smiled. “No problem, kiddo. I think it worked out better this way anyways.” 

Peter smiled back, then he turned to take one last glance around the room. “Well, I have plenty of time to get adjusted later, what do you say me and you go two against one on Rhodey? Sneak attack.” 

Tony laughed. “I like the way you think. Do you think you got that from me?” 

“Nah, I think I got all my  _ good _ traits from my mom.” 

“Hey!” Tony ran after Peter as he scurried out of the room. His laugh echoed down the halls and for a second Tony could hear the laughter of the toddler from the videos he spent hours watching. 

Everything he’d missed, he would make up for in the years to come. He had that opportunity now, and he knew this wasn’t the end. He might have missed Peter learning to walk, losing his first tooth, and going to his first day of school, but he was looking forward to all the milestones yet to come. He would be there for his graduation, his first day of college, and the day he got married. 

Tony would be there for all of that. He would be there every step of the way from now on. There was no way he was missing out on a single second. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this isn't really the END end. I still have an epilogue I'm going to write that's going to take place a bit in the future. ;) But the storyline is over. So thanks for sticking around and reading! I hope you guys liked it.


	12. Chapter 12

**_One Year Later_ **

Tony was in the kitchen with Pepper and Rhodey when FRIDAY made the announcement.

“Boss, Mr. Parker has arrived.” 

“Ah!” Tony immediately perked up and headed to the front door. “Finally! Come on, let’s see if he needs any help with his stuff.” 

Pepper and Rhodey trailed behind him, sharing a smile, as he opened the door to Peter and May Parker standing outside of their sedan. The trunk was popped open and bags piled up in it, but May paid no attention to them as she held her nephew’s face and talked quietly.

As Tony got closer, he could hear what she was saying, “And make sure to call me every night and let me know what you’re doing, okay? If you forgot anything, just let me know and I can bring it down for you. And—”

Peter laughed and swatted her hands away. “I know, Aunt May, calm down. It’s just a week.” 

“I’ll miss you though,” May bit her lip and smiled nervously. “Be good, okay?” 

Peter was staying at the compound for his spring break. It was the longest he’s ever been away from home without May, though he had spent plenty of weekends with Tony in the past year. They even went on vacation together that summer. Tony brought the both of them to Hawaii along with Pepper. It was the Parkers’ first time outside of the Northeast besides the one trip to Disney World they went on when Peter was little. 

“I’ll miss you too, May. I’ll call you, I promise.” He kissed her cheek for good measure before turning around to face his hosts. “Tony! How’s it going?” 

Peter still called Tony by his first name. He hadn’t graduated to the name  _ ‘Dad’  _ yet and he wasn’t sure if he ever would. Considering he still called his aunt by her name despite living with her for most of his life, it didn’t seem likely, but Tony wouldn’t be against it if he decided he wanted to go for it one day. But it didn’t matter either way. Tony knew that they were finally on a level where Peter was comfortable around him and that’s all that mattered. 

“It’s going good, squirt. Are you happy to finally be on vacation?” 

Peter sighed dramatically. “ _ Yes. _ Junior year is kicking my  _ ass. _ I brought some textbooks... I still have some homework because teachers are evil.” 

“Well hopefully not too much homework so you’ll still have some time to train and help me in the lab?” 

Peter smirked. “I think I can definitely make time.” 

“Do you need help bringing your stuff inside?” Rhodey asked from behind them. Peter leaned over to look past Tony. 

“Hey, Rhodey! Hey, Pepper! Yeah, that would be great!” 

They all grabbed a bag from the trunk and Peter took his backpack from the front seat and hoisted it over his shoulder. They all filed back into the compound and shuffled down the hall to Peter’s room. It had become a lot more lived in since Peter moved in part time a year ago. More clutter filled the area as well as personal pictures and posters that he had since hung up. He also had his own work area to tinker on science projects and take apart vintage technology. 

When everything was placed on the bed, May was back to her fussing. She ran her fingers through Peter’s hair fondly and smiled. 

“Are you all set? Do you need anything else?” 

“I’m fine, May,” he smiled back to reassure her. “Stop worrying.” 

“I’m not worried,” May said. “I know you’ll have a great week with Tony. Just… I’ll really,  _ really  _ miss you.” 

Something guilty flickered through Peter’s eyes. Tony felt it too. It has been hard to balance the parental dynamic between the two of them, especially when Tony lived relatively far away. And their relationship was still unknown to the public, so every time they spent time together it had to be in secret. 

It was really hard. Tony wanted nothing more than to shout from the rooftops how proud he was that Peter was his son. But they had decided: no revealing the truth until after Peter’s first year of college. Peter was adamant that he didn’t want to become the child of a celebrity until after he already decided on a school and made his own friends so that he could be sure that he did it all himself. He didn’t want his father’s reputation to have anything to do with it. Tony admired him for that. 

“It’s only a week,” Peter reassured her once more. “It’ll fly by faster than you know. And then I’ll be back.” 

Tony knew May struggled with giving Peter up, even for short periods of time. He could understand; she was alone in the house when he was gone. But she still let him go when he wanted to spend some time with just Tony, and they did things all together when they could. 

“I know,” May smiled and stroked his cheek once more. “Don’t forget to call.” 

“I won’t,” Peter promised and hugged her tightly.

 

* * *

 

Tony adjusted his suit in the mirror for the millionth time. 

“Looking sharp,” a voice said behind him.

He turned around and smiled at Rhodey who was wearing an equally sharp tux. 

“Thanks,” Tony said. “How does she look? Have you seen her?” 

“Stunning,” Rhodey smiled, his grin widening. “I’m surprised she isn’t having any second thoughts yet.” 

“Hey,” Tony groused. “She would have backed out a  _ long _ time ago if she couldn’t handle me. Where’s Peter?”

“He’s in the bathroom, I think,” Rhodey responded. 

As if on cue, Peter entered the room. He was dressed in a fitted suit that Tony gifted to him.

“Ay, there he is,” Tony cheered. “How’s my favorite kid doing?” 

“I’m your  _ only  _ kid,” Peter pointed out. 

“And so the favorite by default.” 

“Should I expect any competition soon?” Peter asked wryly.

Tony choked. “Let’s not rush here.” 

Peter laughed. “Okay, okay. You look great, by the way.” 

“Thanks, as do you. You’re lucky you have those Stark genes that make you look impeccable in a good suit.” 

Rhodey rolled his eyes. “Oh god, is this thing starting yet?”

“Actually, yes,” Tony responded, looking at his watch. “Are you ready? It’s showtime, boys.”

The ceremony was extravagant but small. They decided to keep it between close friends, considering neither of them had any close family members to speak of, and Tony still hadn’t heard from most of his friends in over a year. 

He had a moment to regret that Steve wouldn’t witness this momentous occasion in his life, but he pushed it aside. Everyone who mattered was here. 

Rhodey looked like he was born to play the part of Tony’s best man. He had accepted the position with pride and a big hug. Tony was happy that Rhodey had been there since the beginning—before Iron Man, before any of this, and stuck around the whole time. He felt beyond grateful to have found a friend that was there for him no matter what. 

Pepper walked down the aisle looking like a goddess. She was radiant in her lace gown with a form fitting shape that billowed behind her. Tony felt his breath catch. She smiled up at him, looking at once bashful yet confident. Tony couldn’t believe he was lucky enough to be alive for this moment. 

During the rest of the ceremony, he didn’t pay attention to much else besides the woman in front of him that somehow, for some reason, against crazy odds, decided she wanted to spend the rest of her life with  _ him _ . He stared at her in awe the entire time, something that caused her to throw him amused glances. 

After their vows (which Tony was woefully underprepared for—Pepper, to no one’s surprise, prepared notecards, while he decided to just wing it. He figured his most heartfelt sentiments were born from spontaneity anyways. And although any other woman might have been off put by his obviously impromptu speech, Pepper seemed thankfully touched.) it was time to exchange wedding bands. 

Peter stepped up proudly from his spot among the groomsmen and presented the matching golden bands. He smiled at Tony and his eyes sparkled with happiness. Tony smiled back and he felt his stomach swoop with excitement. His son handed over the rings to officiate his and his soon-to-be-wife’s marriage. 

They slipped the rings on each other, said their  _ “I Do’s,” _ and kissed to the applause of their own private audience. He heard Peter shout out in excitement. They held hands and danced down the aisle as flowers rained down on them. It was the happiest moment of Tony’s life.

The after party was in true Stark fashion—overpriced and over-the-top. Pepper had most of the control over the aesthetics, but Tony was given control over the playlist. 80s music blared through the loudspeakers as his guests danced wildly. Pepper laughed as she watched Tony do a ridiculous dance for her. Rhodey shook his head but he was smiling. 

May and Peter emerged from the crowd of dancing people looking disheveled and cheerful. Peter smiled at Tony and he stopped mid-Russian jig to walk towards them. 

“So, what do you think?” he shouted over the music. 

“This is really something!” May shouted back, surveying the area. 

Peter just kept staring up at Tony and smiling, not saying a word. 

“What, kid?” Tony asked.

“Nothing,” Peter dismissed, shaking his head. “I’m just… really happy for you.” 

“Hey, c’mere,” Tony put Peter in a headlock and gave him a noogie instead of responding to his sentiments. In truth, he was touched by Peter’s words. His approval meant everything to him. 

Pepper walked over to join them and Peter pulled himself out of Tony’s arms to give her a hug. She hugged him back tightly. It was no secret that Peter  _ loved  _ Pepper, and vice versa.

He pulled away and looked up at her. “Does this mean you’re my stepmom now?” 

Pepper threw her head back and laughed. “I’ll be whatever you want me to be, Peter.” 

Peter considered it. “I think I’ll still call you Pepper, though.” 

Pepper smiled fondly. “Fine with me.” 

Peter let her go and turned to Tony to give him a hug as well. Tony hugged him back and snaked an arm around Pepper, drawing her in. May came in on the other side to put one arm around Tony and one around Peter. She smiled up at him and nodded approvingly.  _ You did good, _ her expression said. 

_ Yeah,  _ Tony thought to himself, looking around at the people encircling him.  _ Not half bad.  _

 

* * *

 

“Oh god, it’s happening.” 

Tony cringed as a limo full of screaming teenagers pulled up in front of the compound. Happy got out of the driver's seat and opened the back door, looking slightly traumatized. 

“You did this to yourself, man. No pity,” is all Rhodey said in return. 

Tony’s eye twitched as way more kids than twelve seemed to get out of the backseat. But no, he did a headcount, it was only twelve. Why did it look like  _ so many?  _

“It’s Peter’s seventeenth birthday,” Tony explained, more to himself than to Rhodey at this point. “I wanted to do something special for him.” 

He kept reminding himself that as the boisterous teens ran into the compound like a pack of wild animals, taking in their surroundings with glee. 

“Oh my god, this is the coolest house I’ve ever been in!” 

“How much do you think this TV costs?” 

“Holy shit, is that a  _ chocolate fountain?”  _

They barely seemed to notice Tony himself standing right there until Peter approached him. 

“Hey, Tony,” he greeted, smiling. 

“Oh my god, Tony Stark is here!” 

The kids all finally noticed his presence and crowded around him. Peter had invited his whole Decathlon team to his party and most of them had never met him. The only exceptions being Ned and MJ, his two closest friends. They were also the only two that knew Tony was Peter’s father. 

“Hey guys, be cool, be cool,” Peter put his hands up to stop the raging horde. 

Tony smiled despite himself. It was good for Peter to see that his dad was  _ actually _ cool. The past year had really killed his hero worship. Seeing a man in a greasy t-shirt on a 72-hour no sleep binge and amped on 5-hour energy drinks jamming out to old school rock had that effect, unfortunately. 

After a while, the kids finally settled down and adjusted to his presence enough to actually begin the party. Tony had set up a dance floor, a food table, and a game station where he proudly featured his own VR tech. The kids split up into groups after a while, all in awe. Tony sat in the kitchen with Rhodey, acting as distant chaperones. If anyone needed them, they knew where to find them, otherwise they were staying  _ far _ away. 

A couple hours in, Tony decided to check up on them. He wanted to ask Peter when he wanted to bring out the cake and open presents. As he stood up, he immediately spotted Peter in the corner by the food table with his friends Ned and MJ. He started to approach them through the half window separating the kitchen from the open party space, but before he could make himself seen, he overheard Peter’s conversation with his friends. 

“Your dad is like  _ so _ cool,” Tony immediately recognized the voice as Ned’s. “I can’t believe he threw this big party for you. This is the coolest party I’ve ever been to. Why didn’t you invite more people? We could’ve been the most popular kids at school!” 

“No, Ned,” Tony could practically hear Peter roll his eyes. “I only wanted to invite my  _ actual _ friends. I don’t need the whole school to know Tony Stark lets me party at his house. It’s already suspicious enough.” 

“So Flash is your friend now?” The sarcastic tone of MJ piped up. 

_ “No, _ but I couldn’t invite the whole Decathlon team and not him.” 

“Well, if I were you, I would just tell everyone that he’s your dad. What’s the worst that could happen besides your life getting infinitely better?” 

“Ned.” 

“Do you want  _ me _ to tell everyone?” 

“No.” 

“Dude, drop it. He’s not going to crack,” MJ butted in. 

_ “Thank _ you, MJ.”

“But seriously, why don’t you wanna tell anyone?” she asked.

Peter sighed. “I just… I don’t want people to think of me differently. They already do knowing that I’m close with Tony. If they knew… I’m just not ready for the whole world to find out yet. Once they know, I can’t go back. I’m not just Peter Parker anymore… I’m Peter Stark, heir to the Stark Industries empire.” 

A silence followed that Tony assumed was his friends nodding in agreement. 

“But you’re right, my dad  _ is _ super cool,” Peter tacked on with a more playful tone, and Tony felt a smile stretch over his face.  _ My dad. _

He chose that moment to round the corner and make his presence known. 

“Hey, kiddos.” 

Ned and Peter jumped while MJ simply turned to him with a scowl.

“I was just wondering if you were ready for cake,” Tony asked casually as if he didn’t just overhear his son tell his friends that he thought he was cool.

“Uh, yeah, just a sec. Do you need any help?”

“No, no!” Tony brushed him off. “It’s your party, you don’t do any of the work! Me and Rhodey can bring it out and then we’re out of your hair again.” 

Peter laughed and conceded, beginning to step away to gather all of his guests. 

“Oh, and Peter?” Tony said before he could walk away. Peter paused and looked back at him. “I think you’re super cool too.” 

And with that, he disappeared back into the kitchen with glee, but not before seeing Peter’s face turn beet red. 

 

* * *

 

The compound was abuzz with dinner preparations and conversation. May flitted around the kitchen in a rush, adding spices here, checking temperatures there. Peter was her official taste tester. Every couple of minutes he was dragged away from his chat with Tony to try something else and make sure it had enough flavor.

“Is it good? Is it ready?” May asked anxiously. 

“It’s great, May,” Peter responded. “Can we set everything up now? I’m  _ starving. _ ” 

“Even after you ate practically a whole meal in samples?” Tony asked teasingly. 

_ “Yes,”  _ Peter said emphatically. “Super metabolism, growing teenager... I need my nutrients.” 

“Well you are going to get  _ plenty  _ of nutrients tonight,” May promised, hoisting the turkey out of the oven. “I cooked enough to feed a small village.” 

“Great! What are you guys gonna eat?” Peter asked innocently. 

“Oh ha ha,” Pepper chimed in sarcastically, walking over to help May with the food. “I wonder where you get those jokes from.” 

Peter and Tony set the table while Rhodey, Happy, and even Vision were enlisted to help Pepper and May bring all the food over. They set everything in the center of the table and took their seats. 

Tony had to be honest, he never really celebrated Thanksgiving before. It never seemed like a big deal and he didn’t really have anyone to celebrate it with. Besides, he could eat his weight in food whenever he wanted to, he didn’t need a special holiday to do that. 

But it had been Peter’s idea to have a party. He had seemed really excited at the idea of rounding up everyone for dinner. So of course Tony couldn’t say no to that. They had it at the compound because it was much more spacious than the Parker’s apartment. He had offered before to finance a bigger place for them, but they politely declined. Something about their current residence having sentimental value. 

So the compound it was, and Tony had been in charge of clean up and preparation as well as funding the whole shindig whereas May was put in charge of cooking, seeing as she was the only one who really knew how. It was a responsibility she took very seriously, and it paid off. Everything looked delicious. 

“Alright everyone! Before we start: let’s go around the table and say one thing we’re each grateful for this year,” May announced. “I’ll go first. This year I’m thankful for Tony for coming into our lives and making raising a teenager a hell of a lot easier.” 

“Hey!” Peter protested, but May only laughed and reached out to ruffle his hair. 

“Pepper?” May asked. “You next?” 

“Okay,” Pepper smiled.  _ “I’m _ thankful that Tony finally did the damn thing and married me.” 

They all laughed. It continued like that, with all of them going around the table and saying something until it got to Tony.

“Um,” he coughed. “Well, obviously I’m thankful for my new lovely wife.” He gestured to Pepper, who nodded appreciatively. “And Peter. They both came into my life in very different, very unexpected ways… and they both changed it for the better.” 

Peter smiled next to him and looked down bashfully.

“And what about you, kiddo?” Tony asked. “Last one, then we can eat up. What are you thankful for?” 

“Well,” Peter started, considering his words. “I’m thankful for a lot of things. Just two years ago, my Uncle Ben died and May was the only family I had left. Now I look around this table and I have such a big family.” 

He gestured around to everyone and they smiled. 

“So I’m really thankful for that. I’m thankful for my family.” 

Tony bit his lip and nodded. He wrapped his arm around Peter in a side hug and jostled him a little.

“Well said, kid. Really well said.” 

“Agreed,” May added. “That was really lovely, Peter.” 

“Thanks,” Peter laughed softly, embarrassed. “Now let’s eat already!” 

Everyone agreed and began to dig in and the moment was broken. Conversation erupted once more and the hectic atmosphere of a group of people comfortable in each others’ presence was back. 

_ Family. _

Peter was right, they were all a family. A little untraditional and a lot dysfunctional, but they came together perfectly. Tony was with his people here. His son on one side, his wife on the other, and his closest friends and ultimate confidantes all together under one roof, sharing a meal. 

Tony had never experienced something like this before—something so profound and palpable. His heart swelled with it. He looked towards Peter who was shoving mashed potatoes in his mouth. Peter, who, in the past year, had proven to him over and over again that he was capable of more love than he believed possible. Peter, who brought out the best in him. Peter, who was his greatest creation.

Peter noticed him staring at him and looked up at him, spoon in mouth. He laughed then, uncomfortable but amused at the attention.

“What?” he asked with a smile. 

“Nothing,” Tony replied, smiling back. “I’m just thankful for my family too.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you sooooo much to everybody that read, commented, bookmarked, and left kudos on this fic... ALMOST 1000 KUDOS???? Way more than I ever thought I would get. 
> 
> I wrote five chapters of this fic, then abandoned it for a couple of months, then came back to it and decided to post it. I almost didn’t post it at all, so I’m really proud of myself for finishing it. This is the longest fic I’ve ever written and the biggest challenge. 
> 
> If you would like to see more of my Peter and Tony content (or drop by and say hi!), you can check out my art blog @emkayohh on tumblr. I also have a side blog, @missmgann where I reblog a lot of Marvel stuff. 
> 
> And one last plug at the playlist I made for this fic! https://open.spotify.com/user/85q3bgs309hbhpk3gy05kzr4w/playlist/0t231uZBFsORBFTHmF0JzG?si=wZoMPzI1RzW8j60sOkU9pQ  
> Please listen to it, I’m pretty proud of it. 
> 
> If you liked this fic, please comment and let me know what you think! :) I love hearing from you guys! THANK YOU!!!!!!


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